


In My Veins

by maevelin



Series: Original Blood [1]
Category: Klaroline - Fandom, Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Addiction, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Blood Addiction, Blood Bond, Blood Drinking, Blood Sharing, Dark Character, Drama, F/M, Romance, Sexual Tension, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Vampire Bites, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-01-10 03:35:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1154328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maevelin/pseuds/maevelin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She knew that she was running deep into his veins and now she was feeling the same primal need. He was all she could feel and taste. He had become her addiction and no matter how much she tried to fight it she had no other options left. Their bond was unbreakable… for love might be forever but blood is eternal. (Klaroline AU. Three-shot)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part i : Your blood is calling me

**Author's Note:**

> \- This is a new four-shot. Originally it was meant to be a long one-shot but it turned out quite long so I decided to break it and turn it into a three-part story. 
> 
> \- For this story Klaus returns to Mystic Falls because Caroline desperately needs his help. In this world Klaus lives in New Orleans but that is pretty much it. The NOLA story and anything that includes the pregnancy and everything and anyone remotely connected with it doesn't exist.
> 
> -Many thanks to my beautiful beta Anastasia Dreams!

.

.

_I'll return from darkness and will save your precious skin_  
 _I will end your suffering and let the healing light come in_

_._

_._

_._

_._

_**Spain 1402** _

_Rebekah was cradling his body as if she could bring him back to her. As if only her hug could give him life._

_This had to be a lie she kept thinking. This couldn't be happening. Not after everything they had been through. She couldn't lose him this way. They had survived the nightmare of what had happened to them, to him, so it couldn't end this way. Not like this. But it was too late. Darkness was coming through the cracks of reality and his absence was forever. She would give everything she had for another chance, but it was too late. She couldn't rewind time. Her daylight had faded. Forever. She was cursed. To be alone._

_She kissed his cold lips as she broke into tears when he didn't kiss her back._

_She wanted to bring him back. She had to do something, but no matter how much she pressed her hands on his opened bleeding chest his heart was still missing and his flesh had already turned grey._

_She looked up to see her two brothers looking at her with pity._

" _Why, why Nik?" she cried as she held the body of her lover closer._

_Klaus kneeled next to her and wrapped his arms around her._

" _It's over sister," he simply said as she broke into sobs and endless tears in his arms._

* * *

_**Whitmore College.** _

_**Present day.** _

He strode into the campus not caring for anyone or anything else but Caroline. He had to get to her; he had to see her, to make sure she was okay. His thoughts were consumed only by her and he could clearly see now that she was his weakness. They had said their goodbyes at her graduation in their own special way. He hadn't seen her since then and yet he felt like she was constantly with him. No matter how much he tried he couldn't get her out of his mind. _Or his heart_ assuming he still had one. She was like a ghost in his soul. Nothing seemed to go like he planned and his only thoughts seemed to be conquered by Caroline's form. No matter how much he tried to pretend that she was out of his mind her face would come into his thoughts no matter what. Her imaginary figure would find him in his days and nights. Everything seemed to change, nothing stayed the same, and Caroline was always there.

He was dying to talk to her. To see her. To be with her. And yet he was holding on. It was one of the hardest things he had to endure in his long spanned life, but he was not one to beg for love. He would give her time to grow up, to learn, to travel, to mature. He was a patient man after all. He waited a thousand years to break his curse and he knew that if there was something worth waiting for another thousand years it was Caroline.

And yet now he would see her again and he didn't have to wait a thousand years. He could feel her near him like a gravitational pull. From the moment he entered her college he could feel getting closer to her step by step and that was making him ache. He would have hoped that he would see her again under different circumstances but alas it was not meant to be.

He was in New Orleans when he had received her call. At first, as he had seen her name appear on his phone, he had smiled and felt his heart skip a beat. He hated his reactions when it came to her, but his mind and body were never in sync when it came to Caroline. He hated to admit this but he was missing her terribly.

It was true that he wanted to do things right with her. He wanted to wait patiently for her. A day, a month or even a century. Time didn't matter when it came to her. He intended to be her last and he was certain that when he had told her this she hadn't fully understood that sooner or later, one way or another he would make sure that the promise he gave her would come true. He knew he was impulsive and in another time he would have taken her with him whether she wanted to or not. But she had changed him. He was unable to treat Caroline like he would do any other. He didn't want to compel her or to force her into submission. He wanted her to be with him of her own free will. Or at least this is what he was trying to do because there were times that he was ready to go seek her out. Usually those times were during the restless nights he would dream of her.

So when he had received that incoming call from her his heart filled with hope. Moments later his hope went to dust when he heard her strained voice over the phone.

He had never heard her like that. Not even when she had werewolf venom running through her veins. She sounded in pain and in despair and she was asking for his help. And if he knew anything for sure it was that Caroline would never willingly ask for his help. Not unless things were bad. _Really bad._

He was the Original Hybrid. He was a true immortal and virtually undefeatable and yet when he had heard her asking for his help panic settled in his heart. Rage and fear at the possibility of anything wrong happening to her.

He didn't care what he left behind. He didn't care about anything or anyone. He left immediately. All of his instincts had taken over and before he even knew it he was in his car and driving to Whitmore College.

Her voice imprinted on his mind.

" _Please …help me…Klaus…"_

He didn't care if it was a trap. He didn't care to wait. All he cared was to get to her.

When he had called Stefan he began to truly worry.

" _We don't know what is happening to her…_

… _She seems to be out of control…She attacked a girl…_

_Klaus I have never seen her like this…she is spiraling…_

… _she looks like a …ripper…"_

He had closed his eyes in pain as Stefan used that word for Caroline. years ago he would have relished in such a possibility and he would have been the one to try to make her succumb to those instincts like he had once done with Stefan. She would be easier to be handled like that. But he didn't want that. He didn't want to manipulate her into a replica for who she truly was.

As images of Caroline passed through his mind he knew that he could never bear seeing Caroline like that. Not Caroline.

He tried to reassure himself somehow. He kept thinking that she always had excellent control, a remarkable trait for her age, so there had to be a way out of this.

But the next words that came out of Stefan's mouth filled him with dread.

" _She is in pain…no matter how much blood she drinks it isn't enough…she won't last long like this…if this doesn't stop soon she might…turn it off…"_

If there was something that he knew beyond any shadow of a doubt it was that Caroline was special for everything she was. She balanced her vampirism and her humanity using as guide her beautiful light. The light that had attracted him in the first place. She couldn't lose her light, not like that. If she was to surrender to her bloodlust and turn her emotions off he didn't know if he would ever get her back. If she were to indulge in her most primitive instincts while abandoning her light she would eventually break and she would forever change. And he knew that a world that was not going to be illuminated by her light was not a place her wanted to live in. He had barely survived that dark world before Caroline came into his life. He was not going to return back to it. And if there was anything he could do Caroline would never live in such a world either.

.

.

He didn't pay attention to Damon or the doppelganger that were outside Caroline's dorm. Elena tried to ask him to compel Caroline in order to give her back her control, but he ignored her and went in. He saw Stefan sitting on a chair next to Caroline's bed. He also saw many empty blood bags all over the room. _Too many blood bags._ Caroline's eyes were vampiric and she was looking into space with an empty expression.

Stefan looked at him with worry.

His felt a pang of pain in his heart at the sight of her. She was obviously in pain and he hated the fact that he hadn't been there for her from the beginning.

"Hello sweetheart," he gently said, but Caroline remained unresponsive. Lost in an unknown world that was not allowing anyone else to enter.

Klaus couldn't take his eyes away from her. He took a step forward, but then he stopped feeling uncertain.

"She's been like this for the last few hours," Stefan told him.

He looked at his once good friend with a pained expression, but he quickly regained his composure.

"Give us a minute, mate," he ordered Stefan.

He then saw Stefan tensing up and he clenched his jaw.

"You should have known by now that if there is one person that is always going to be safe around me it is Caroline," he said with a soft voice while looking at her with a melancholic smile.

"So ripper I suggest you remove yourself now before I ask again in a less kind manner," he told Stefan with a calm tone and after all their shady controversial friendship Stefan should know that when he was using his calm voice then all hell was about to break loose and that was the last thing Caroline needed right now.

"I'll be right outside," he informed Klaus with a serious tone that earned him an ironic smile from the Original Hybrid.

When Stefan left them alone his cool façade vanished. His gaze was once again filled with worry as he carefully took some steps towards Caroline.

She was in a state of lethal hunger. He had seen many blood thirsty vampires looking like this and he knew that even the slightest movements could trigger psychotic outbursts. And yet, even though he knew that Caroline was now a dangerous hunter, he couldn't ignore the way she looked. She looked so fragile and small on that bed.

As he moved closer he couldn't help but smile as he remembered that once upon a time he was approaching her like this while she was laying in pain on a bed. Back then he was the one that has caused her such pain. Back then she was celebrating her 18th birthday and he was responsible for ruining that day for her. But it was then that he had seen for the first time how strong she really was. He had promised her a thousand more birthdays and he was going to keep his promise no matter what.

He gently sat on the edge of the bed making sure not to disturb her and he waited.

He whispered her name and he could swear that she felt him and that a part of her reacted positively to his sight, but he remained still and cautious.

When he was certain that she was feeling more comfortable with his presence he took the risk of stretching his hand and tenderly removing a stray lock of hair from her sweaty cheek.

She flinched, but she didn't move. His warm palm cupped her cheek and he slightly turned her head towards him and she closed her bloodshot eyes in shame.

He smiled sorrowfully at that. She was so beautiful with her vampire face on. It was the first time he ever saw her like this. It was sad that it had to be under these circumstances and like this but he couldn't help the feeling of attraction that washed over him at the sight. She was magnificent.

"Quite the predicament you found yourself in, sweetheart," he said with his most soothing tone. He used the same tone when he was trying to lure his victims in. He knew how to manipulate his voice and even his accent in a way that would create a sense of familiarity and security to the person he wanted to control. This time, though, all of his intentions were pure. All he wanted was to make her feel safe and to keep her protected.

She slowly opened her eyelids and she looked at him with hooded eyes as the purplish veins covered her skin under her eyes like a silky spider web. Her heart rate went up and she shifted uncomfortably on her bed, a moan escaping her lips as she put her palm over her eyes.

"No, don't," he said and took her hand into his own. His gaze was intense and fixed on her trembling form as she inhaled hard.

She looked at him in surprise and her chest kept rising and falling in an erratic rhythm. Her fingers wrapped around his and he held her hand tightly into his own as his moved his other hand to her face. He seemed mesmerized as his fingertips gently touched the veins under her eyes and she gasped in surprise. For a moment the blood inside her eyes dissolved leaving the clear blue shade shining inside her orbs.

All around them seemed to be dark and in that moment her eyes changed back into their normal color and it was like he could catch a glimpse of the light he so had missed all this time.

But the moment was gone when he heard her moaning in pain and he saw her face changing again. Her fangs were now shining under the dim lights of the room and her eyes had changed back revealing the vampire that was hidden under her angelic features.

She tried to get away from him and leave the room as the vampire inside of her took control, but he held her in his arms as she tried to get away. She thrashed, screamed and hit him with her fists and kicks. She even tried to bite him. This was more than her body could take, but he wasn't relenting. He was stronger than her and restrained her. He made sure he didn't hurt her. She seemed to be possessed by her hunger and now he could see with his own eyes what Stefan meant. She did seem to be in a ripper mode. But it looked a thousand times worse. It was like she was a wild animal with no logic. Everything that made her who she was seemed to be gone.

She kept violently hitting him, her body moving in a convulsing way. Eventually she tired herself and collapsed into his arms. He held her in his embrace and kept caressing her hair. Her whimpers and her almost soundless cries broke his heart.

"All is going to be okay, Caroline. I am here now," he said as his fingers massaged her head and caressed her hair.

Her fists grabbed his shirt tightly and she buried her head into his chest.

"I am not going to leave you again sweetheart, you are going to be okay, I will fix everything," he kept promising her with his most soothing tone.

He took her face into his hands and looked in her eyes.

"Focus on me love. Nothing else exists. Focus on my breath," he encouraged her.

She moved her head and tried to push him away.

"I can't!" she cried.

"You can! There is nothing you can't do!" he strictly told her as he held her tighter.

She looked at him desperately. She was unable to change her face back.

"Compel me, please," she begged him even though they both knew that there was nothing she hated more than that.

"Never," he told her as his dark piercing gaze claimed her own.

"Please," she whispered.

"You can do this Caroline, you have excellent control, breathe and change your face back now!" he ordered her.

She couldn't explain it. She couldn't understand how it was even possible, but it was the power of his conviction that cleared the haze inher mind.

His faith in her made her concentrate on the sound of his breathing and on his eyes. Soon her breaths joined his slowly. Nothing else existed at that moment. The world was becoming smaller and smaller until there was nothing left except him. He became her anchor that brought her back.

Her face slowly changed back. Her control coming back to the surface again.

"That's it Caroline, that's it!"

He nodded at her and she took a deep breath in relief again. The pain was dissipating and her need for blood became less sharp and demanding.

"What is happening to me?" she asked him, trembling as pain flashed through her eyes.

"We will figure this out love," he told her with a certainty that not even she could defy.

If there was one thing he definitely knew it was that he was going to figure this out. He had spent centuries searching for solutions and answers for his curse. And he knew that for Caroline if he had to he would bring the whole world upside down.

He saw her nodding and biting her lip. She was fidgeting now, but she was still maintaining her control.

"Tell me what happened, sweetheart," he asked her with a serious tone.

She sighed and looked guilty.

"I attacked a college student," she said in a barely audible voice.

He looked at her and waited patiently for her to continue.

She breathed deeply and moved away from him. She sat at her bed and brought her knees over her chest.

"She didn't have any cuts or anything, I just…," she bit her lip and closed her eyes.

His eyes kept scanning her. He didn't care for the human. Humans were just a means to an end. What was important was Caroline and what was happening to her.

"I could smell her blood anyway, I had already fed, but it wasn't enough, lately it never is," she said with a trembling voice. He squinted his eyes at that, but he didn't say anything.

"All I could hear was her heartbeat, her breath, her pumping vein on her neck," she told him.

She picked her head up and looked straight at him.

"I stalked her Klaus and I…I blacked out…"

"You blacked out? How?" he asked, concerned.

"I don't know, I don't remember," she said as despair laced her tone.

He noticed that anger was finding its way back into her mind and he couldn't allow that. It could trigger another vampiric transformation and he needed her to stay calm.

"It's okay, love," he tried to placate her.

"No Klaus! It is not okay! None of this is okay! I hunted her down and the last thing I remember was draining her! If Elena hadn't been there I would have killed her!" she yelled at him.

"But you didn't," he told her with a calm voice.

She moved her head to the right and then to the left. She seemed on edge.

"Then what happened?" he pressed her. He didn't want to upset her anymore, but if he was to find a solution he had to know everything.

"I have lost control! That is what happened!" she screamed and punched a pillow. She couldn't control her strength so she destroyed the fabric and the feathers of the pillow flew around her.

Her eyes filled with tears again.

"No matter how much blood I drink…it is not enough!...it doesn't even taste like blood anymore, it is stale and it feels like water, I am hungry all the time, I can't get enough, I just need…I …I cannot control it…my throat is burning and all I can dream of is blood," she confessed to him. She refrained from telling him that her dreams were plagued with visions of him. She was constantly reliving the moments where she had fed from him. In her dreams his luscious blood was pouring down her throat and only in those moments was she feeling happy and alive and the hunger was going away. Only to return even more demanding.

"I don't know what is happening to me, I don't understand Klaus," she said breathlessly on the verge of tears that she refused to shed.

"You are a young vampire sweetheart, sometime it happens," he told her, but he was concerned. He knew about young vampires losing control, but every each one of them found pleasure in the blood. Caroline was now telling him that she wasn't. And that was causing great worry to him.

She laughed bitterly.

"Has it happened to you?" she asked him. Her doubts evident in her tone.

"Sometimes, yes," he told her thinking of the times he had lost his control in the past and succumbed to multiple bloodbaths.

"I was not in a rage, Klaus, I wasn't upset or in pain, and then I couldn't change back," she said. "If it wasn't for Stefan holding me back again and again I would have already drained half the campus. I can still hear everyone's heartbeats in a mile's radius! Has this happened to you?" she asked him with a burning gaze.

It was a look that turned the liar in him silent.

"No," he honestly said to her "but you are too young and you've been feeding by blood bags. You need warm blood and you have deprived yourself for far too long," he told her.

"It is still blood," she defended herself.

"Yes, but the vampire inside you isn't satisfied just by consuming blood, sweetheart. You have been ignoring your needs and that never ends up good," he told her.

"No," she said with conviction.

"Before attacking that girl when was the last time you hunted? When was the last time you fed from the vein?" he asked her.

She blushed and looked anywhere but at him.

"Caroline?" he pressed.

"From you…" she choked.

His gaze darkened and he felt his skin starting to burn up.

She wasn't one to hide or back away so after some moments her eyes found his and she gave him a proper answer.

"The last time I fed from someone was with you," she said with a clear, yet low, voice.

She sighed and picked herself from the bed.

She didn't see how his eyes changed. How they turned heavy with wonder and lust. How he craved for the unattained; For her.

She didn't know how many times he had dreamed of the moment her lips had found his wrist and drank from him. She didn't know how much he wanted to relive these moments, to feel her near him, to have her scent envelope him as his blood ran into her veins claiming her from the inside.

"Maybe you are right," she said as she started pacing around the small room.

"Feeding from the vein is different, I…I keep thinking of it, I…can't stop thinking of it, actually." She turned around and looked at him, only to found his eyes following her each move like a hawk.

Her cheeks flushed red and she bit her lip. He picked himself up and reached for her. As he was ready to go to her he stopped at his tracks. He looked at her with surprise, curiosity and something akin to an epiphany.

No matter how much her inner vampire would want to hunt and to get in control, in the end Caroline's reactions made no sense. She had already hunted that girl so that need should be somewhat sated. And yet she said it wasn't. She said that even blood tasted different.

His eyes then widened as he remembered a very similar situation from the past. And Caroline noticed it.

"What?" she asked with fear.

Klaus shook his head. No, what he was thinking couldn't be happening. The chances were less than a million.

"Klaus, what is it?" she demanded.

"Nothing, it's nothing," he said but his voice lacked conviction this time.

"You know what is happening to me don't you?" she asked him and gulped when she saw him worried. Klaus was never worried. He was irritating, annoying, charming, enraged, poisonous and a menace, but never worried. The few times she had seen him like this was when real trouble, that not even he could control, appeared and now he had that exact look on his face again.

She went near him and almost begged him.

"Please tell me," she implored.

"It's…it's a stupid idea love, it's nothing," he said, but she could see that now he was wearing a mask and was hiding his honestly from her.

"I cannot take this anymore, Klaus, the pain, the need for blood…it is too much!" she said as new tears swam in her eyes, "if you know something…anything that could help me then please…please tell me…anything would be better than this!" she said as she hastily swiped her tears with her hand. Even like this she didn't want to show weakness. She had to get through this. Ever since she turned into a vampire her life has been one challenge after another and she never gave up. She wouldn't do that now, either.

Klaus's hand went through his hair. He took a deep breath and looked carefully at her.

"You said you've been thinking of the times you fed from me right?" he asked her and saw her shifting uncomfortably from one leg to another.

"I don't-" she started saying something but he interrupted her.

"If you want me to help you then you need to be honest with me love," he told her with a grave tone and her heart started pounding in alarm. An ominous portent of danger encircled her.

"Yes," she admitted in shame.

"Is it a memory or a growing need?" he asked with a shaken voice and he held his breath when he saw her nodding in shame clearly indicating that it was both.

"For how long?" he asked her.

She gulped and looked away.

"Caroline!" he pressed her more and she moaned in shame.

"Ever since the night of my birthday," she whispered and he felt his heart constrict with an unknown emotion at her admittance. It was something akin to pride and worry all at once. And there was something else. More intense and powerful that he would never admit.

He stared at her and he couldn't help but feel his skin heating up at the memory of her teeth tearing his flesh and feasting on his blood. There were nights that he would recall those memories and would feel her absence even more. The need to have her was became stronger those nights and the need to feel her connect with him in such a primal bond was almost too painful for him to bear. At those moments he wanted to feel her. He would give anything for her to be near him and to have her taste his blood again.

He cleared his throat and tried to think more clearly. She needed his help and answers and his unquenchable lust for her wasn't helping at the moment.

He needed answers from her and he needed them now. But in the back of his head he couldn't help but think something else too. A part of him, the part that was egoistical and demanding wanted to know if she was having the same emotions and needs as him. They had shared blood before. That meant something. It had to mean something. Even she couldn't be detached from something like that. She certainly must have felt the same needs and lust every vampire in the history of their species felt when they bloodshared. He could feel his heart tighten in that thought, but tried to control himself.

He couldn't forget that he had some very disturbing suspicions now, but he also wanted to hear her admit to him what he craved to be true.

"How do you feel at those moments? When you fantasize of drinking my blood?"

He saw her shifting uncomfortably again and he couldn't help but feel the need to smirk. He didn't. Because aside of the part that wanted Caroline to feel the same as he did for her the most prominent part of him was the one that was worried about her. The one that he was deeply ashamed of. She was just a baby vampire and yet if anything happened to her nothing would stop him from tearing this world apart. And that part of him was growing stronger every passing day. He left her behind, but no matter the distance between them she was still a part of him. She was still his desire, she was still in his mind. He would say that she was still in his heart too, but alas he hadn't had one for centuries now. If anything Caroline was the heart he had lost long ago. She was the light he craved. He needed her to be safe and sound and all right because if that unsettling suspicion that had started forming in his mind was to become reality then he was afraid that his newfound heart would break. She would hate him. But no. His mind was playing tricks with him. No way this could be happening. No.

"I…"

She looked lost and then her skin blushed and that lovely red shade covered her face and neck. He could hear her breathing becoming erratic and he feared that she would have another psychotic break again. She could lose control at any minute again and he needed answers so he pushed her a little more.

"Trust me sweetheart I don't want to make you feel any more uncomfortable, but I need to know. It is important, this need…how does it feel like?" he urgently pressed her.

"It's like your blood is calling me," she said in a whisper that caused all color to escape from his features.

His lips twisted.

The more details she was revealing to him the more concerned and upset he became. This couldn't be happening. _No._

Not to her. Not to his Caroline. Because if what he was thinking was true then Caroline was now his. In a way that would never break. Irrevocably and forever his.

_And she would despise him for it._

_._

_._

_Girl I will cover you when the sky comes crashing in  
I'll go the distance, lead the way to your darkest sin_

_._

_._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Song lyrics : Les Friction - World on Fire


	2. Part ii : Sins of Blood

**Part ii : Sins of Blood**

.

.

_And I spilled someone's blood_  
 _I broke someone's heart again_

_So let in the light, turn me to dust_  
 _If it don't end in bloodshed, dear,_  
 _It's probably not love._

.

.

.

.

His blood was calling her she had said and this was not the first time he had heard something like that.

_**Poland 1358** _

_Klaus looked at his sister with irritation._

_She was nursing her beloved relatively newborn vampire like she was his maid. In any other case he would kill him and dagger her but lately Rebekah had befriended some quite powerful witches and with Mikael constantly on their trail he needed all the alliances he could get and his little sister could help him gain those witches favor. But she was testing his bloody patience!_

_He paced in front of the bed glaring at her while she caressed the hair of her new lover boy._

_Kol had found him in a tavern less than a year ago. He was newly turned and he was on a blood murdering spree. Kol had found a new kindred spirit for his debauchery and perversions and, unfortunately, Rebekah had found a new love interest. She was stupid enough to even blood share with him!_

_Everything went downhill after that. He had become attached to his sister's blood and she was letting him constantly feed on her. An Original allowing a baby vampire to treat her like a commoner. She wasn't just letting him bed her, but was also giving him access to her blood like she was his personal blood slave. His own sister stooping so low!_

_He should have paid attention to the signs sooner, but his sister's idiocy always bored him to no end._

_Now he could see that Philip had been changing ever since he started feeding on Rebekah. He became more aggressive and hostile. He became more savage when he fed from humans and he could only sate his hunger through his sister. The idiot had turned into a mad man that would even sell his soul for a drop of his sister's blood._

_He looked as his sister worriedly attended the man that was now sleeping on her bed. She had been trying to give him less and less of her blood everyday in hopes that he would get detached, but it wasn't working. If anything it looked like Philip was on the edge of desiccation._

_The man opened his eyes and looked at his sister with pain._

_She sighed and brought her wrist over his mouth._

_As Philip was about to lunch off her arm, Klaus sped over to them and broke his neck._

" _Klaus!" Rebekah exclaimed._

" _This is getting ridiculous!" he yelled at her and dragged her away from the room._

_Rebekah pushed him away and glared at him._

" _He needs me!" she protested._

" _What he needs is a stake through his heart!" Klaus said looking at her with disgust. She was weak. She was letting her emotions cloud her judgement._

" _No! You won't do this! I will find a solution! There has to be a way!" she begged him._

_Klaus rolled his eyes and Rebekah looked at him in despair._

" _What am I supposed to do? Nothing works Nik! He can't even drink from humans anymore. He says their blood tastes different. That only my blood is calling him," she whispered and looked at him in a way that he hadn't seen on her in centuries. She was looking at him like she did when they were human. When she was afraid and was coming to him for help._

_Klaus went near her and swept a falling tear from her eye with his fingers._

" _Then show him some mercy sister. Take him out of his misery," he told her and left her alone._

.

.

Caroline looked at him and she could swear that this was the first time that she could see terror in his face.

His look was enough to petrify her and momentarily stun her in a way that made her forget her hunger for a moment.

She had known him for a while and if there was something that she knew for certain it was that Niklaus Mikaelson was never terrified. Klaus could get upset, even look semi scared over a certain outcome that would be messing with some of his Machiavellian plans, but true fear was never an emotion that could claim him.

If Klaus was scared then she was in deep trouble.

"You said that when you are drinking blood it tastes different?" she heard his voice faintly asking her and she absentmindedly nodded. His tension seemed to numb her and she flinched when she heard him cursing in a low voice. What was happening?

What was happening to her that made Klaus react like this?

"Since when _**exactly**_ has this been happening? Even the slightest infinitesimal change in the taste of blood…even if it was just in a single drop! Remember Caroline! It is important!" he all but growled. This time he seemed to need an answer from her more than ever.

She looked at him with confusion and then the color drained from her face. Behind Klaus there was a mirror and even she could see that now she looked even paler. But in that mirror the only thing that she could really see was pieces of a puzzle slowly moving and uniting.

"Months," she said as realization hit her hard.

She remembered the first time she had tasted his blood. The taste was divine. It felt like heaven had erupted and bloomed into her mouth and when she had drunk human blood the next day it somehow tasted different. Just a little bit. She didn't pay any attention back then and it didn't last long. After a few days, the blood started tasting the same again. So she completely forgot about it. She forgot about it until…

"Since the beginning, since the first time," she said and then she blinked in fear and looked at him like she was seeing a ghost "but it became permanent since…" she felt faint and took a step back.

"Since when love?" he insisted and then he saw her swallowing in fear.

She raised her bright eyes and locked her gaze with his.

"Ever since the last time I fed from you," she said with trepidation and took some steps away from him like she was electrocuted.

He closed his eyes at that and he felt his heart beating faster and faster.

Caroline put her hand on her mouth as realization was dawning fast in her mind.

"After I fed from you I have been needing more blood, oh my God!" she whispered.

"And…and…" she couldn't breath.

"It started tasting different, the human blood, a little bit every day…God!" she panicked and looked around, everywhere but him, in a way that showed that she had lost her balance. She was on the verge of hyperventilating.

Klaus looked at her eyes that shone bright in the dark lighted room. Every word that was slipping from her lips was confirming his suspicions even more. Scratch that. Suspicions? They seemed more like facts now.

"Oh my God, I kept thinking of your blood… oh God!" she exclaimed as she was starting to panic even more.

"Caroline, sweetheart calm down," he said in a soft tone.

"Calm down? _**Calm down**_?" she screamed at him and then went to him and pushed him hard, but he didn't budge. All her judgement gone. She wanted to hurt him. To hurt him bad!

"For months I have been spacing out thinking of your blood! It's okay I used to say. It is just that weird thing that happens with vampires and blood and the damn libido that is always sky high even with the devil incarnate but I didn't think! I…And then I had to drink the one blood bag after the other to make those thoughts go away and you are asking me to calm down!" she screeched and pushed him back again, but this time he grabbed her hands and gave her a look of warning.

He could feel her anger passing through him and igniting his own rage, but as he saw tears shining in her eyes all of his anger vanished at once.

This wasn't her fault. Nothing was her fault. If anything it was him. If it wasn't for him and his plans for vengeance and his loss of control he would have never have brought Caroline into those life and death situations to begin with. She would have never been forced to drink from him. She wouldn't be suffering right now like this and for that he was in pain too. But he would be a hypocrite if he said that he wasn't _regretting_ those times. No matter how hard he was trying to feel remorse. He wished he could say that he was sorry, but deep down he wasn't. If it wasn't for the first time she was in desperate need of his blood then he wouldn't have seen her. Truly seen her that is. He would have passed her by and no matter what happened afterwards he would never regret getting to know and to fall for Caroline Forbes.

As for the second time. He would always regret the moment he had hurt her, but he would never regret the moment he had finally admitted to himself that he wanted her in his life. He would never forget her words and the hope that he once again got in his life. She was his anchor to sanity and an insane mind like his would never regret that moment _. Ever._

"What have you done to me?" she yelled in rage as she freed her hands from his hold and hit him on the chest. He growled at that, but he refrained from restraining her again since he could see that behind that rage fear had found refuge in her heart and was crippling her.

He heard her heart rate increasing and he felt her strength multiplying as she immediately pushed him again. Caroline was never _such_ a violent person, not to that extent, so he realized that she was losing control again and this time it was fueled by wrath which combined with her hunger would make it even more difficult –if not impossible– to calm her down.

But then he flinched as he saw her falling over the edge again. How could he forget even for a moment that Caroline was stumbling between her world and insanity constantly?

He noticed that veins had started pulsing under her eyes and he couldn't allow her to lose her control now so he grabbed her from her shoulders with an impossible speed that not even her vampire senses could comprehend. Her vampire side emerged in full force at that and his fingers buried into her skin forcefully.

His eyes turned yellow and the alpha male in him took charge. He was still certain that her survival instincts were present. She had regained her control moments before so she could again. She desperately needed answers and solutions from him because she was a fighter and a survivor; so now he would have to scare her enough to make sure that her rage would be subdued by her fear and her fear would be born by her need to survive against a natural enemy. Right now, Caroline was driven by rage, which was one of the most dangerous vampire emotions. She was driven by her instincts so he would have to provoke the one he needed in order to make her get back in control.

She hissed at him as the blue of her eyes started leveling out into a different, darker, shade that was turning into a crimson flaming color like the blood moon in a clear night sky.

He brought her closer and his fangs extended. His whole body tensed up as if he was going to attack her. His posture sent warning signals to her.

Vampires were hunters, but they were still the prey for hybrids and werewolves. He only hoped that Caroline's primal instincts of self-preservation were stronger than her blood lusted induced rage.

"Remember who you are attacking little vampire!" he snarled at her.

"Regain control or make your move," he growled into her ear and his grip became so hard that it almost broke her bones, but she didn't relent. Her nails found their way to the tendons of his lower arms and she tried to scratch the leather of his jacket of in order to attack and damage the flesh of her enemy.

He shook her violently when she snapped at him with lethal intent so he attacked her by shoving her back to the wall behind them. Due to the severe impact of their bodies with the hard surface plaster fell over from the walls creating dust that rose all around them. In between what seemed like a cloud of smoke from the ruins of the wall he grazed his fangs over her neck without breaking her skin.

This sense of familiar danger seemed to shake her and he smirked with his head still buried into the soft curve of her neck. It was a fear installed deep in her from the last time he had bitten her.

He hated that a part of Caroline was so afraid of him that her fear was enough to shake her out of her animalistic condition, but the predator in him felt like he had claimed a part of her like that. She knew that he could subdue and possess her anytime he wanted and the werewolf inside him was emerging with need. How much more even now that he was present.

Knowing that such a strong woman like her could feel his superiority deep in her nature was a contradicting emotion of pride and need. The need a wolf felt when he wanted to claim his mate. And then again he also knew that Caroline's true strength lay elsewhere. It was internal and it was able to subdue even him at any moment she wished, but for that she needed to be in control and now she wasn't.

He breathed deeply, taking her scent in and he lifted his head.

He lowered his forehead to hers and they both breathed deeply as his golden hues were locked with her bloody ones. Veins danced on both of their faces. In any other situation they would either try to kill each other or he would ravish her on the spot…while they would still be trying to kill each other.

" _Remember me,"_ he whispered to her as their wills clashed. It was a mix of desire and order. She stayed still and breathed him in. It was her nature fighting to keep control, but also losing exactly because his nature was stronger.

Soon enough he saw her vampire eyes changing back and her blue eyes looking at him with a mix of awe and surprise. Once he was certain that she was back again his eyes turned back too and his fangs disappeared.

They stood there for a moment before he saw her licking her lips and gulping uneasily.

He stared at her lips for a moment and then he let her go and she stumbled back. He straightened his jacket and looked at her seriously, not allowing himself to show her how deeply that moment had affected him too.

As if this outburst of hers never happened, he casually shed the wall dust from his clothes and he went and sat on her bed.

"There might be a chance you have developed a form of blood addiction," he informed her casually.

She stood there, balancing between logic and insanity and still not believing what had happened just moments before. It was as if she hadn't heard him and then she finally blinked.

"A what?" she furrowed her brow as she became increasingly more confused.

He remained silent, giving her the time she needed to process what he just said and then he saw her eyes brighten with the dreadful realization.

"A bl-blood…" she stuttered before she pursed her lips.

She looked at him as if he was the worst thing she had ever seen before in her life.

"You have got to be kidding me!" she accused him and looked at him with anger as she realized what he meant by blood addiction…blood addiction to his blood, he meant…she was addicted to… _him?_

"Please tell me that you are kidding!" she pleaded with him while knowing that he would never joke at a moment like this.

"I am afraid I am not in a joking mood right now, sweetheart," he said sardonically as he raised his eyebrow. He smirked as he saw her puffing and huffing irregularly like she was ready to gauge out his eyes. But after their last little 'showdown" he knew that the vampire inside her wouldn't attempt such a thing again in his presence which meant that Caroline had a new sense of control for now. At least when it came to her vampire side.

No matter what their past was there was a part of her that didn't trust him of not being able to physically hurt her.

He knew that after the last time he hurt her he would be unable to do so again, but it would be best if Caroline didn't know that. Best for her condition and his pride.

"Original blood is more potent and the source of vampirism… and you belong to my bloodline, Caroline," he informed her politely as if he was instructing a student.

"The signs of your condition are suggesting the possibility of a blood connection between you and I being formed" he said and saw her inhaling with pure trepidation.

She faintly whispered "no" which he wouldn't have heard if he wasn't a vampire.

He connected his palms together in a nonchalant gesture and looked at her intensely.

"Blood sharing is personal, sweetheart, you must know that by now" he said looking at her intently until she blushed, "The moment you share blood with a vampire there is a connection formed. And if you had some sort of intense emotions at that moment it is highly possible your need _for me_ is translated to a need for my blood," he said as his eyes scanned her face for all the emotions he could find.

He had emotionally detached himself while explaining this condition to her, but he wanted to see her reaction. He wanted to finally know what she exactly felt for him.

He saw her turning her palms into fists and her eyes looking at him fiercely.

"My need for… _you?_ " she said as her face scrunched in disgust, "No, no, no! I have no need for you at all! None! No way! This is not happening! I do not need you in any sort of a way! No!" she said way too fast in a very cute way and he couldn't help but smirk at that; but he was also trying to ignore the way she seemed disgusted at being confronted with the possibility of harboring feelings for him.

His gaze immediately turned to ice. Here he was, always putting his heart on her feet and she was never going to admit that she felt anything for him. Only if circumstances forced her like now.

"Let's hope that you are right, sweetheart, because if you are blood connected to me I am afraid that it will be irreversible," he calmly said as he leaned back on her bed in a more comfortable position.

"What?" She screeched.

He pressed his lips in a mocking way, trying to hide his own uneasiness at this predicament.

He didn't want her to see his remorse and his guilt. If this was truly happening she was bound to him forever. She wouldn't be able to leave him or deny her feelings anymore and if her negative emotions for him were those that she would decide to wear on her sleeve from now on then they were in for one hell of a bumpy ride that would be everlasting. Literally.

"I am afraid so," he said as he crossed his legs and continued speaking without showing any real emotion to her, it was the only way he could remain in control, "Witches confirmed it some centuries ago. My noble brother could not let any enigma that concerned the Originals stay unsolved. So when a blood bond formed in our family he searched for answers. Shamans, witches, seers. All had concluded one thing. A blood bond between a vampire and an Original is eternal and unbreakable. Usually, when we are talking about normal caliber vampires the effects of the blood bond can last either for some moments, years or for some centuries, tops. But when it comes to the Originals…" his gaze turned possessive as his eyes racked her form from head to toe. The rest of his phrase and the repercussions of what he meant to say were left lingering between them as knives that cut skin deep.

But, somehow, Caroline's eyes managed to cut even deeper inside him than the words he used against her.

She looked at him in a way that only she could; reading him and understanding all the things that he left untold. He used words to hurt her and yet she could read between the lines. She could reach out and see all the things that were not meant to hurt her, but were hurting him. It was like she picked up the only part of the sentence that still caused bitter memories to him. The only part that burned inside him with rage and pain for all the things he should have done differently, even though he knew that he would still do the same. It was who he was. A person that Caroline didn't deserve and yet if she was blood bound to him, he would be the person she would spend the rest of her days with. Like his siblings did. An unsevered bond they hated. Caroline would hate it too. She would hate him too.

Eventually, she would despise him and she would want to abandon him only to realize that she wouldn't be able to not only because he wouldn't let her, but also because her place would be deemed next to him forever, whether she liked it or not.

"Has this happened to you before?" she asked in a soft voice filled with what seemed to be concern.

He looked at her and then down.

"Not to me… _to Rebekah_ …a long time ago," he slowly said as a pang of guilt echoed in his heart as he remembered the only time that he had allowed his sister to cry in his arms for one of her loves. The only time that he supposedly wasn't responsible for her loss and the only time that he realized what he was doing to her by sentencing her to a life without love. Back then he needed Rebekah at his side so he couldn't dagger her or kill her beloved and that had left an opening for her to turn to him. It was one of the few times where he had been there under the veil of comfort and not hurt.

Little did she know that it was him that had made Kol kill Philip. It was for her own good and it made all their troubles go away in the blink of… a ripped heart.

.

.

_**Spain 1402** _

_The wind was howling in the night as Elijah was holding Rebekah in his arms while she remained eerie silent. Decades of love had left her once again heartbroken. Philip was her longest relationship and for a moment she had dared to hope. She had dared to hope that she would find a way to break their bond, but even if she couldn't they would still remain together and spend their eternities in love even if she had to stand by him every step of the way._

_Even Niklaus had accepted him. But once again she was wrong. She couldn't love. Not in this family. Not when she was the sister of Niklaus, Elijah and …Kol._

_She looked with an empty gaze as Nik threw the shovel away. Philip was gone. She would never see him, touch him, be with him. Klaus was the one that had taken Philip's body from her arms and the one that dug the grave and then covered it with dirt again while Philip's decayed body was lying inside._

_Their days were gone. She was cursing her unforgiving immortality now that she would have to roam the earth again alone…without him._

_Klaus turned to her and she looked at him as new tears fell from her eyes while he opened his hands for her. She left Elijah's arms and she ran and found refuge into Klaus's arms and cried over his dirty shirt. He caressed her hair and supported her in her grief. Kol had run away after she had attacked him in rage. She didn't want to see him ever again. She still couldn't believe he had killed Philip like it was just a game for him. He took the love of her life away from her because he was annoyed and bored. Even Niklaus had shown mercy to her this time and had let her be happy._

_She wasn't an idiot. She knew that Klaus needed her alliance with a specific coven of witches that trusted only her after a blood oath an ancestor of them had given to her._

_Two centuries ago she had saved the life of a witch when her whole village was going to burn her to the stake._

_Even though back then the burning of witches wasn't thriving as it was now sometimes in some villages many girls were burned alive for using magic; Magic that was beyond the human nature and many could not understand. The fear of unknown is encrypted deep into humanity. Humans would always want to explore it but also condemn it. So in time, magic had turned into something evil. People were afraid of monsters and Klaus was one of those that had spread the terror that united the name of the monsters with the name of the witches. It was his revenge to Esther for cursing him and binding his werewolf side. He took it out on all the witches. He created legends, fables and myths. He spread them all over the continents along with the rumors of the fake doppelganger curse of the sun and the moon. After each one of his carnages he left compelled crippled martyrs that associated the destruction with sorcery and magic. He created terror stories that spread like wildfire and soon enough people started viewing magic as something evil and demented. Witches and warlocks started hiding. Small villages stopped trusting the healers and the witches that once upon a time had the freedom to practice their magic respectfully in the open as their mother and Ayanna once did. The peace between the servants of nature and the humans was broken since people would always fear the unknown and believe the worse. Soon enough, for each vampire crime, witches were to blame and were named the devil's children. Maybe this was also a punishment for them since it was a witch that had created the vampires._

_This hunt and devastation of their kind was one more reason why the witches hated vampires with such passion. Klaus had managed to do even that. They were not just nature's abominations, but also one of the reasons why witches would be persecuted, tortured and would suffer until their ends._

_At one hand Klaus was siding with them; charming, bedding or blackmailing witches to do his bidding and with the other he was condemning their whole kind into a life of hiding, fear and torment._

_This was who her brother was. She had accepted him for that even if she didn't agree. So she stood in silence as she watched men starting destroying and burning witches at the stake. Something that neither her nor Elijah approved, but it seemed something that her black hearted brother Niklaus deeply enjoyed._

_But sometimes she would retaliate. Back then she had intervened and saved that witch girl from burning in that blazing fire. Not because she was a witch, but because she was a young girl that didn't deserve such a fate at the hands of ignorant men. Part of her always wanted to help women, even witches. Because even if they were nature's servants and sworn enemies of the vampires, in the end, they shared the same magical gift her mother once had. And she still kept Esther's memory cherished in her heart much to Niklaus's dismay. Besides it was the same magical gift she would also possess if she hadn't been turned into a vampire. A dream of a life that still plagued her and tormented her. Family, children, human love._

_She didn't know it then, but by saving that girl she had gained her loyalty without knowing that she belonged to a very powerful witch bloodline. Even the young witch didn't know it since she was an orphan and new to her powers. When Rebekah saved her the girl took an oath that bound her and her descendants into protecting and always helping Rebekah. Several generations later her descendants had multiplied and were spread all over the continents. Their magic thrived and their ancestors' blood oath made them loyal to Rebekah. They indeed existed because of her since that girl back then was the only one left in their family tree and their magic and family line would have forever been gone if that girl had died._

_And now Klaus needed that alliance and this is why he wasn't pressuring her anymore. Especially the last 100 years where Mikael seemed to be getting better and better at hunting them down._

_But, also a part of her believed that Niklaus finally understood her need to be loved and love. To find someone to care for. And he was proving it to her right now by holding her so tenderly after burying the man she loved with honor and respect. She would never forget this kindness because it wasn't forced. Nik cared for her._

" _All is going to be okay little sister," Klaus said in a soothing tone while Elijah looked at him with a gaze of pure condemnation. He smirked over his sister's head._

_Elijah. The noble brother. The brother that understood from the moment Kol ripped out Philip's heart that it was him that orchestrated this whole thing._

_But, it didn't matter. Rebekah was finally free again and their family wouldn't have to drag around unwanted dead weight that was holding them back, especially, with Mikael on the loose. Once Rebekah had started talking about marrying Philip he knew that he had to get rid of him and soon._

_Besides he wanted his sister to be happy and now that she didn't have that blood-connected idiot attached to her all the time she was free to live her life again._

_They had finally gotten rid of the nuisance that Philip was and in the end Rebekah would forgive Kol since he was still her little brother. Maybe it would take a few years, decades even, but they would unite again since Rebekah adored Kol._

_Since he had supported Rebekah through her whole blood bonding ordeal she was once again trusting him with all her heart and was ready to do his bidding._ _He had to admit that this was a better solution than daggering her. She would stay by his side, like the loving and caring sister she was supposed to be, she wouldn't complain and she would help him with her witches. If he was lucky enough her grief for Philip would last long enough that he wouldn't have to deal with any more 'loves' of hers for at least some decades to come._

And so it was. He had gained Rebekah's gratitude and she helped him with the witches as he received her renewed loyalty. It would be centuries later that Kol would threaten to reveal to Rebekah that he was the one behind Phillip's murder and that was why he had daggered Kol and kept him in a coffin for a hundred years until he undaggered him in Mystic Falls.

Caroline's soft voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"This cannot be happening!" she mumbled and then looked at him horrified, "I am sired to you?" She yelled at him.

He sighed and simply shook his head. Unfortunately it wasn't a sire bond. It was worse. Because there were ways around a sire bond. But not around this.

"No love of course not," he said in an effort to calm her down.

But the complete and utter horror was still not erased from her face and that made him regret the detached way he had spoken to her so far.

He breathed deeply and stood up. He wanted to go near her but he saw that it wouldn't be a welcome gesture from his part. So, he decided to explain everything to her the best way he could.

"Assuming that what we are talking about is really happening then in reality you are in desperate need of my blood," he said in a calm voice. "Nothing else can satisfy your needs. I am sure that this applies on an emotional level too, but your free will is intact," he reassured her and saw her take a deep breath. A sign of mixed fear and relief on her part.

"You can still make your own choices and you can think clearly. But, if you are blood connected to me then you will need to feed regularly from me," he said and he almost paused when he saw her face blanching. But, he continued, "Eventually you will only be needing small doses, but as long as you have my blood in your system all will be well. You will continue to feed on human blood like you used to and your control will completely return," he said and hated the desperation her eyes were betraying.

"The upside is that if this is true then my blood will also make you stronger. The downside would be that you would need to directly drink from me daily especially for the next few months since obviously your body has been denied my blood for so long and it craves for it," he said and she turned her back on him.

He wanted to go near her, tell her that all would be okay but he couldn't. This was less than ideal. Besides he was not one to comfort people. That would be Rebekah or Elijah. He would probably cause more damage right now.

And he was also angry too. After everything that had happened between them he couldn't believe that this was in store for their future. He always hoped for a future with Caroline, but not like this. He remembered the sudden infatuation he had felt for her. The way his interest turned into fascination and then into respect. How his emotions had wrapped him into an unknown reality. A reality where he was capable of doing everything for just one of her smiles.

And now he was cursing everything holy and unholy because she was in pain and all he wanted was another chance to make everything all right for her again, but he couldn't.

He saw her trembling and heard her small whimper. She was breaking. He had entered her world and now she was breaking because of him. He was destroying everything he touched, but he would be damned if he would destroy her. She was strong. She would be okay. Even if this wild theory was proven to be true she would be okay. She had to. He would do anything for her to be okay.

He let go of everything that held him back and moved closer to her. He touched her shoulder as tenderly as he could and he flinched as she jumped and shook his hand from her shoulder. She turned and looked at him with a look filled with accusation and he shuddered.

"All that, of course, is only if such a possibility is our reality, Caroline. It is just an idea. A long shot really. It could be something entirely different," he said hoping that it was. Hoping that he was wrong.

She looked at him for some moments. She was speechless and looked lost and when he placed his hands on her shoulders she didn't move or give any indication that she wanted him to take them away.

"We will figure this out, I promise," he told her in a velvet voice and he saw her nodding albeit unwillingly at first.

But his gesture was helping. It was as if electricity was flowing through the connection of their bodies. As if his reassurance became her strength. For a moment he couldn't let her go, but then he let his hands slowly fall and she looked at him intently as she tried to calm herself. Her chest heaving and then relaxing.

"Ok, you are right," she said and he smiled at that.

Her determination was coming back and he couldn't help but admire her. She was strong. There was no doubt about it.

"This..this could still be something else…you could be wrong," she said and looked at him. "You also said that it could be because I am not feeding from the vein right? That could also be it!" she rushed the words out.

"It has to be," she whispered.

He looked at her and he raised his eyebrows.

"Well…One way to find out, love," he said and went and sat back on her bed.

"How?" she asked in an almost scared voice.

He lifted and turned the sleeves of his jacket and his shirt on his right forearm up.

"Feed from me," he simply told her and her eyes opened wide.

"What? No!" she backed down immediately, refusing him even if her hunger was rapidly returning as her eyes looked at his bare arm.

"If it is my blood you need then once you feed from me all your symptoms will go away. No more intense hunger. No more loss of control. You will return to normal. You'll be sated and sane again. If not, then we will take it from there," he told her and waited.

She gulped as the intense need to go near him and lose herself in his blood slowly took over every rational thought she could make.

But she couldn't even move. This was too much. She was battling her desire for his blood with her hope that his theory was false. Because if it wasn't, then it would mean that her life would forever change.

Irreversible he had said. There was a chance that she could be irreversibly connected with Klaus and she didn't know if she could take a step towards such future.

.

.

_Here we are, in the darkest place_  
 _My reflection shows only your face_

_Something is found_  
 _Something is lost_

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Song Lyrics : Tom McRae – My vampire heart  
> \- Many thanks to my beta Anastasia Dreams


	3. Part iii : In my Veins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Many thanks to my beta Anastasia Dreams.  
> -This story is now a four-shot  
> -Song inspiration & Lyrics: In my Veins by Andrew Bell

**Part iii | In my veins**

.

.

_Nothing goes as planned…Everything will break…_

_Everything is dark…It's more than you can take…_

_Everything will change…Nothing stays the same…_   
_Nobody here's perfect…Oh, but everyone's to blame…_

_._

_._

.

.

**Mediterranean sea. Year 1659.**

_A storm was coming._

_Klaus could smell it and he could feel it in his bones. He was standing on the deck as the wind was raging. The white foam of the angry waves painted the sea in absolute blackness as the sky was moonless tonight._

_The sails were barely holding. The mast ready to break in half. This was a small ship that was now a captive to the sea's rage as the weather was changing. The ship was constantly dipping from one side to the other as the force of the ocean was unyielding._

_The sharp air was ruffling his wet hair, but he did not feel the cold. His eyes were as dark as the endless waters in front of his sight. The waves were crashing over the ship and his body and his hands gripped the slippery gunnel so hard that the wood was breaking underneath his fingers. He was barely controlling his anger._

_Again they were on the run. They had left Corsica in a hurry. All their belongings that were left behind had probably turned to ash by now. They only took with them what they considered necessary which meant some boxes and Finn's coffin._

_They had compelled everyone to burn their house to the ground, to destroy all evidence of their existence there and to forget they ever encountered them. Once again news of Mikael's arrival had reached their ears so they abandoned everything behind and run once again._

_Destination unknown._

_For now they were heading towards Cyprus and from there they would leave Europe behind them and probably go to Egypt. At least he and Rebekah would. Kol would probably choose another destination in order for them to leave different traces behind and to confuse Mikael in case he was indeed after them._

_Elijah was not with them. After his betrayal with Katerina, Elijah had gone a separate way before he had the chance to dagger him. He hadn't seen him for almost two centuries now. His noble brother gone from his life. His absence and betrayal something that would forever be a thorn on his side._

_Kol came and left his life. Never interested in staying with them for long._

_The only one that truly stood by him was Rebekah. Rebekah and her constant need to fall in love with unworthy men._

_He sighed as Kol approached him and stood beside him. Wind and water surrounding both of them._

_Kol's coat was open and his white shirt had turned red. They were keeping the crew alive, but they were always feeding from them. But from the looks of it, Kol appeared to have taken a bath in blood. It looked as though their crew must have decreased in numbers._

" _Did you at least left the captain alive?" Klaus asked with boredom but he didn't hear a reply. Kol simply put his hands into the pockets of his coat and looked at the sea._

_Kol's eyes seemed haunted. His childishness gone as he looked in the black sea._

_After a long silence Kol spoke with something that resembled…regret which startled Klaus for a minute there because regret was an emotion unfamiliar for his little brother._

" _She is calling for him again," he said._

" _Who is?" Klaus asked even though he knew the answer._

" _Bekah, Philip," Kol simply mentioned the names without taking his eyes of the black waters._

_Klaus refused to say anything and Kol pressed his lips together. After so many years, there were still times that Rebekah called for Philip in her nightmares. Times that she screamed for him in her sleep. She still mourned him in her dreams._

_Klaus could still not believe that after two hundred and fifty years his sister was still harboring feelings for a corpse._

" _She still loves him," Kol said._

" _Him and many others," Klaus replied tiredly._

" _It is not the same and you know it," Kol said still refusing to look anywhere but the sea, "…this is our fault," he whispered._

_Klaus said nothing._

" _She will never forgive me, Nik," Kol said in the roaring wind._

" _Don't be ridiculous Kol" Klaus replied with a voice laced with indignation._

" _Vampires never forget," Kol suddenly said as he turned to look at him, his true age showing._

" _We get hurt, we move on, but we never forget. You and I are incapable of love, but Rebekah was and she will never forget," Kol said with glassy eyes as regret and madness danced within them._

_Klaus looked at him with narrowed eyes as Kol's demeanor changed from honest to threatening._

" _This is why you don't want her ever finding out that you ordered me to kill her love isn't it … brother?" Kol said as he spat the word brother with distaste._

_Klaus took a threatening step forward, but Kol didn't retreat._

_From all his siblings Kol was always the one to never back down and the only one that had a similar rage with him even without hiding a wolf inside. He was the one that had fewer limitations and inhibitions even from him._

_Him and Kol were so alike in some manners that moments like these they should not be allowed to be near each other. A long time ago, it was Elijah that kept them in line, but now Elijah was gone and Klaus was not in the mood to deal with Kol's foolishness and guilt. Especially now that Mikael had once again exiled them from their house and hunted them down like they were animals. He was already itching to unleash his rage and Kol's attitude was only fueling the fire._

" _Be careful Kol," his voice laced with warning._

" _Because if she ever finds out she will never forget; she will never forgive you!" Kol told him with an anger that rivaled his own and could barely be contained._

_The tempest became worse as they faced each other. The water was whipping at their faces and bodies, but they were standing still and unmovable, ignoring nature's anger as their own surfaced._

_Klaus grabbed his little brother by the lapels of his coat and he growled._

" _It was YOU that killed him! And you had fun doing it remember?" Klaus said with a low voice as his face was inches away from Kol's._

" _WE killed him! Remember your words Nik? Time to get rid of our sister's nuisance you said, rip out his heart you said!" Kol mocked as he pushed Klaus away from him._

" _And you did! Because that damn fool was supposed to be your friend and Bekah had stolen him from you," Klaus taunted and Kol lunched at him._

_Their supernatural speed turned their bodies into formless shapes in the night as they kept punching each other; ferocious kicks and hits that drew blood. They kept throwing each other with great force around. The water was pouring on them as they kept taking and giving merciless hits._

" _Better to break the toy than to share it with your big sister," Klaus taunted as he grabbed his brother and threw him on the mast. It cracked and splinters of wood found their way into the air._

_Kol found his balance again and gripped Klaus by his arms before he took a swing at him and pushed him so fiercely that sent him into the banister._

" _What about you? You would do anything to have Bekah come crawling back to you. Then you would still have the favor of her witches! What is it Nik? Bekah's love for another was too much for you to bear?" he mocked._

" _Stop talking Kol!" Klaus yelled, his voice travelling in the wind as he picked himself up._

" _For a man that claims not to love you surely are doing everything to keep our sisters' devotion and love for you…and only for you," Kol continued mercilessly._

" _One more word and I swear I'll-"_

" _She never forgave me! She will never forgive you either!" Kol screamed at him and Klaus flashed in front of him in the blink of an eye and shoved him back._

" _By the Gods if you do not draw yourself together I will send you into the bottom of the sea, Kol!"_

_Kol didn't care, but didn't attack either._

" _We are running from Mikael and she is crying over the man WE killed! This doesn't mean anything to you?" he said without yelling this time._

_Klaus pinched the bridge of his bloody nose._

" _It is not time for you to grow a conscience Kol! You have Philip's blood on your hands, you agreed, I didn't see you hesitating. It was game for you! It still is!" he accused him._

" _Yes it was, yes! But not anymore…This is why I owe her! We both owe her at least the truth!" Kol insisted as he intently looked at Klaus._

_It was at that time that Klaus' view over his brother changed. For the first time he wasn't seeing his little brother, but a man that was opposing him. A man that was threatening him._

" _She will NEVER know!" he growled with menace._

" _Right…because… if I tell her you would lose the last person that truly loves you?" Kol said ironically as he laughed._

_Klaus's eyes filled with blood as his vampire face came forth._

" _One more word and I will feed you your own heart!" he said and his fangs gleamed in the darkness._

_Kol laughed, showing no fear. But his laugher had no mirth or emotion. It was vacant like his eyes._

_Kol stepped forward and looked at Klaus in a way he never had before. This time there was no admiration, no playfulness. This time there was not even anger. Only a disappointment that was ready to swallow them whole._

_Rain joined the waves and the wind. Flashes of light filled the night as thunder danced in the ethers._

_Both of their faces were illuminated in the dark as rain poured on their bodies. Their clothes on them were like a second flesh, their skin wet and their hair sticking up on their end._

_Fathomless eyes looking at each other._

" _Look what did her love for you do to her! To ALL OF US! Rebekah is broken and she hates me! Elijah is gone because of you!" Kol's pain vibrated in his accusations._

_Klaus threw Kol into the mast again but this time without mercy. Bones broke and before Kol could move Klaus had him by the neck as he had shoved a piece of wood into his stomach._

_Kol grunted in pain._

" _Elijah is a traitor!" Klaus bellowed "He left because there is a dagger waiting to claim his heart! But if you ever dare to threaten me again that dagger will lock you into a coffin for the rest of your eternity!" Klaus said now with a low voice, never taking his eyes off Kol._

_Kol's eyes widened with surprise. Klaus had never daggered him before. He never had a reason to. No matter how different they were, Klaus, his big brother, would never dare lock him in a coffin. Or so he had thought._

" _Do not betray me brother!" Klaus said as he let him go._

_Kol took the wood out of his stomach with a look of contempt._

" _None of us ever did, not me, not Rebekah, not Elijah" he said to Klaus as he turned his back on him._

_Klaus remain silent as his hands turned into fists._

" _You are the one that keeps betraying us," Kol said leaving him alone on the deck in the sea storm._

* * *

Caroline didn't know for how long she stood still staring at him. It was like he was asking her to make a leap into the most terrifying unknown.

Klaus was sitting on the bed watching her with his own careful expression. He was waiting without pressuring her, but they both knew that she was losing control. She knew that if he wanted he could force her to feed on him very easily. All he had to do was bite his own skin and let the blood flow. Even that thought was making her mouth salivate and her insides churn with need.

And even though she knew that he was thinking about it, she also knew that he wouldn't do it. Somehow she trusted him not to do it and somehow she was resisting her own need that was turning indomitable.

The thought of being blood bonded with Klaus was so terrifying that she was battling her craving for his blood. It was holding her back.

If he was right then what? She couldn't do this and yet the temptation was overwhelming.

To taste his blood again. To feel the sensation vibrating inside her. She had been dreaming of this. Not that she would ever admit this to anyone. Her infamous control was slipping away from her grasp, much more now that those dreams could be real.

She sighed and she trembled. Shudders ran through her and she looked towards the door. She was suffocating. She wanted to get out of there, but she couldn't risk it. Only moments before she was acting like a rabid animal. She could hurt people and she wouldn't do that.

And if she was to try to leave she had the feeling that Klaus wouldn't let her either way. Not Klaus, not even Stefan who was still guarding her door.

"You know, sweetheart, you have the most transparent face I have seen," he told her softly and she turned to him only to find him looking at her with a gaze full of tenderness.

"Is that why I was always so good at distracting you?" she mocked him stubbornly.

She saw him smirking at her.

"Not always," he told her with a pointed look.

"Is that so?" she challenged.

"Wanting to be distracted from and actually being distracted are two completely different things," he said as his smirk grew wider.

She huffed at that and then she almost smiled. The idea that right now he was the one distracting her from her fears seemed almost comical to her.

She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes.

"So what would you call the night at the grill?" she confronted him with a look of defiance.

"A revelation," he whispered almost wickedly, but there was something sincere in his eyes that made her feel all warm and tingly.

He placed his palms on his knees and looked at her seriously his disposition changing from teasing to austere and honest.

"That night you were reckless, strong and brave enough to go against an Original… _against me_ ," he told her and she looked at him carefully and for a moment she felt a sense of danger.

"That night," he continued, "you did it to help your friend, now use the same bravery to help yourself sweetheart," he encouraged her.

"You said I was reckless," she reminded him.

" _But safe_ ," he said, "You will always be safe with me Caroline and you know it," he said with a warm tone and she gulped.

"Don't do this, _not now_ ," she pleaded with him.

"Especially _now_ ," he said as he leaned forward and looked at her with an intensity that made her stop thinking about anything else but him.

"I am here to help you sweetheart and I will do anything for you," he promised her.

"Maybe that is what scares me," she said with an almost inaudible voice turning her eyes away from him.

"Maybe…or maybe what really scares you is that _…this…_ _is not_ scaring you," he challenged her.

And he was right.

He was Klaus. She was supposed to be careful around him. She was supposed to despise him and not feel safe next to him. She didn't want to have to do this. Because if he was right and they were bonded then she wouldn't have anywhere to run. He wouldn't let her. And then what? What would she do? How many walls would she have to rise in order to keep him at bay and to keep her sanity intact?

Being connected –in any way– with Klaus was a betrayal. To her friends and to everything she believed. He was everything she should hate and yet she didn't feel that way. Not anymore and not for a long time now. Not only wasn't he scaring her, but she found herself making excuses for his behavior and also understanding him. And parts of her felt so similar to him and that was what was terrifying her.

She closed her eyes and when she opened them again he wasn't sitting on the bed, but he was standing in front of her. She tried to take a step back, but he didn't let her.

He grasped her shoulders and looked at her with a desperate look.

"In the last months I have lost everything that mattered to me Caroline," he confessed "I won't lose you too," he told her as his grip became tighter. She looked at him and saw pain. She saw torment and an agony that made her heart ache.

' _What happened to him in New Orleans?'_ she asked herself silently but his eyes told her that these wounds might be new; wounds that would also be left unattended by others and their truth unspoken and unseen.

She tried to think of something else because the torrent of emotion that she saw in his eyes was almost unbearable to her.

She had to focus on her present. On now. And now she was losing herself. She was losing her mind. And Klaus was probably her only anchor left. One that could end up drowning her in the end.

"If you are right…" she said, leaving the threat of their situation lingering between them.

"If I am right, we will deal with it, together. And if I am not I will still stay by your side until we find out what is wrong, either way you won't have to do this alone," he promised her and for once again she wasn't looking at the Original Hybrid, but at the man that was in love with her. A man that she wanted to trust; A man that was still Klaus.

"You are asking me to trust you," she said tentatively.

"I am asking you to trust yourself, _your instincts,_ " he whispered to her as his thumbs rubbed her arms in soothing circles, "I would never hurt you and you know it and if I am asking you to do this it is because I want to help you…. but I won't force you into this," he said.

"That been settled…we do need to know what is happening, Caroline. _**You**_ need to know what is happening, but for this to happen you will need to take the next step," he told her and he tilted her head up gently with his fingers.

"Better to know now, than to live in doubt, love."

She could tell that he was refraining from telling her that she didn't have many options left. Living in doubt actually meant that she could lose herself in more vampiric psychotic episodes.

"My instincts are telling me… _that I_ _ **need**_ _your blood_ ," she admitted with shame, showing him that this scared her because deep down she knew that she didn't have to feed from him to know that this was happening.

It was already happening.

She saw his eyes darkening and bit her bottom lip as her breath hitched.

" _Then have at it_ ," he told her with a husky, inviting voice and it was that same baritone sound that calmed her and somehow made her feel safe.

He took her hand in his and tangled his fingers with hers. Raw electricity ran through her as he gently led her to her bed and they sat next to each other.

Without any more words, he offered her his bare wrist and waited.

He nodded reassuringly at her and she took a deep breath allowing her vampire senses to take over.

Her eyes changed and her fangs slowly freed themselves from the confines of her gums. She saw the look of bewilderment and appreciation in his eyes and that drove her closer to him as he took his wrist in both of her hands and brought it to her mouth.

And then her fangs sank into his skin.

All second thoughts, all her fears and her doubts vanished the moments his blood spilled into her mouth. Heaven exploded inside her. The most perfect wine. All his dreams and her nightmares combined into one taste. All her desires and all his needs intertwined. A fire that consumed her whole and left nothing else except a warmth so strong it flowed deep inside her in heat waves. She swallowed and she gulped. It was like a poison and an anesthetic. A healing balm and a narcotic. The terrible feeling of the excruciating mind numbing hunger was at last sated. No blood could compare to this sanguine river running down her throat, thick, metallic and hot. _So hot._ No such heavenly taste could ever be found again. She craved it so much. She was deprived from it for so long.

_Copula._

She moaned as her fangs slid deeper into his skin. His veins were her gates to heaven and his blood was the elixir that would keep her floating in paradise. All her consciousness faded away. The only thing left were her instincts as the vampire inside her took control and was at the same moment put at ease. She didn't have to open her vampiric eyes in order to see Klaus's other arm encircling her. She could feel him. All her senses were more alert than ever and she could feel everything with her body and her emotions. Her mind was absent. Her voice of logic was not taunting her anymore. All she could hear was his soothing voice comforting her and encouraging her while she felt safe and comfortable in his arms. His hand sliding over her hair and caressing her curls. Her heart was beating in a wild tempo that seemed to be synchronized with his. Bliss, euphoria.

_Nothing could break this connection._

_Cognatio._

Strong, ageless, fearless. This was what she was in his hands.

Connected. This is what they were as his blood flooded inside her veins.

She couldn't get him out. He was all she could taste, all she wanted. She wanted to stay and run away at the same time because this rising need was changing her hopes, her dreams, her very core. Nothing was the same as flames consumed her own blood and changed it. This was more than she could take. She was losing ground so fast. She couldn't control herself as her sharp teeth left his wounded arm and she flashed her face to his neck. She heard him moaning as her teeth savagely broke his skin, and the new flow of his divine blood touched her tongue.

_Coagmentatio._

Her hands desperately wrapped around his neck, caressed his nape and travelling lower; they explored the muscles of his back only to dig hard into his shoulder blades effectively ruining his leather jacket. She practically straddled him, her fangs still embedded in his carotid artery as his finger threaded through her hair. He was all she could feel and he was like a ghost that was taking over and possessing her. His blood seemed to have a will of its own. It was conquering her from the inside out. Her skin was tingling. Sensations she had never felt before manifested in her body. Her arousal bloomed as she kept hungrily drinking him in. She felt as if she wanted to have his blood as a mark over her own. It was the only thing that made her feel alive. Alive in a reckless and yet safe way. She felt as if she was wrapped inside a cocoon of blood and lust, but it was deeper.

_Infragilis._

It was like she could feel him inside her. So deep inside it reached the place where the dark connected with her soul. To the place that was without light and was craving pain, lust, despair, pain. In that place she could taste even his emotions and memories.

_Aeternum._

His blood was her life and now she was coming back to life again. At last. The feeling of delirium was still there, but in a different way. She was not feeling dehydrated anymore. No weight was holding her down anymore as all her senses had returned with a vengeance. The helplessness she had felt while she was craving his blood was now dissipating. This was magic.

_Copula, cognatio, coagmentatio._

_Pure magic._

_Copula, cognatio, coagmentatio…Infragilis._

" _Sweetheart that's enough."_

All she could feel was lost sounds and memories blending together. Voices from another time coming closer. Voices and memories that belonged to him and now were bound inside her veins. He was bound inside her veins. Inside her blood.

She could feel his blood boiling. Burning her. Scorching her. Becoming part of her.

_Aeterno infragilis._

" _You need to stop...Caroline."_

His heartbeat wild and untamed echoed in her ears. She moved slowly over him drinking him in. More and more and more and more. Slowly, sensually. She wanted this. This was what she wanted. This connection. Unbreakable. Eternal.

_Copula, cognatio, coagmentatio…Infragilis._

_Unbreakable._

" _Love, you are draining me."_

_Eternal._

_Aeterno infragilis._

"Caroline!…Stop!"

His voice, weaker and less vibrant, was becoming closer. Her trance was dissolving. Slowly, as his blood still flooded her mouth, reality circled her again.

_Caroline_.

The way her name rolled in his mouth created a strange feeling that passed through her. It was stronger than her need for his blood. It was commanding and intense and she felt a twinge or pure hurt and longing in her heart. Enough to make her feel almost human again as the vampire inside her, now satisfied, crawled slowly back into the dark pits of her nature.

When he called her name again, her eyelids fluttered. He was more determined now and that somehow snapped her out of her frenzy.

She then realized that she was draining him!

She was ready to consume every drop of his blood, until there would be nothing left. What shocked her even more was that he was letting her. He wasn't violently pushing her away. He was still tenderly holding her as he was trying to break through to her, like he had done before. And all it took was the sound of her name escaping his lips.

She retreated her fangs and momentarily buried her face into the crook of his neck as the tantalizing smell of the blood that was dripping from his torn skin called her close. She inhaled the scent in and let it lull her into a sense of contentment.

His fingers gently caressed the small of her back and she blushed at the intimacy and then she felt as if she was electrocuted.

She literally felt as if someone had thrown ice water on her.

She was on him! She had straddled him and he was possessively holding her in his arms. This was more than just intimate. It was tempting, sexual, raw. Their bodies had melted together as their limbs were practically tangled.

What the hell!

She screeched and flashed away from him terrified. She looked down at herself. His blood had dripped on her blouse. She had been feral, messy; a savage. She looked at him shocked as he sat silently on her bed looking at her carefully. He looked pale but aside from that his body seemed relaxed, as if what had just happened hadn't affected him at all. She looked at his neck and saw the wound that was healing itself. The skin was stitching back together and yet the remaining wound still showed what she had done. The skin was torn apart. Brutalized and severed. Blood was still running down his throat.

Her eyed filled with tears as she brought her hand to her face. She felt the wetness of his thick blood on her nose, cheeks and lips. She couldn't stop herself before her tongue darted outside her mouth to lick the excess of blood that was still on her lips. That scared her so much that she lost her balance. She saw him standing up with a worried look on his face ,but she moved back.

She looked at him with a pained expression and flashed into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

She saw her reflection in the mirror and a sob left her lips. Memories from the first night she turned consumed her.

The girl that was staring her back from the surface of the mirror wasn't her. It was the monster she was always trying to fight.

She looked at herself again. The glint in her eyes, the smeared blood on her face. How could she have lost control like that?

What was the blood doing to her? Why now? And why with Klaus?

With agitated and harsh moves she washed her face again and again until his blood went down the drain and only clean water ran from her face.

She used a towel and scrubbed her face, her neck, sternum and hands again and again.

She looked again in the mirror and the veins in her face appeared again as a reflex of her fear and everything she felt right now. It was not like before when she couldn't even think of anything else, but she could still not suppress them.

WHY was this happening to her?

She groaned as she felt the heat between her legs. The groan turned into a moan as she could still taste his blood in her mouth and that turned her on even more.

Klaus's blood was rushing inside her veins. She could feel it. And it felt good. When she fed from him it felt good. She moaned again as the taste of his blood still lingered in her taste buds. She already felt stronger and less like herself. She had taken too much of his blood. It was like she was high on it right now. And she wanted more. Nothing else. Just his blood. It was like a scorching fire that demanded more.

The veins in her face grew bigger and she almost screamed in frustration.

She knew that Klaus was waiting outside. She could hear even his breath. She could hear everything. And she could even hear her own pumping heart. She could hear the blood that was rushing in her veins. His blood.

She had to snap out of it. She had to!

She looked at the mirror and leaned on the sink. She grabbed the washbasin so hard that she felt it crack under her pressure.

More tears fell as the veins under her eyes still danced an erratic tune.

His blood had calmed the need for blood, but not the hunger and her need for more.

God she needed more! She wanted blood and sex. She wanted to be free. She wanted to run and to drink and to get laid until the end of time.

" _Caroline."_

Klaus concerned voice from behind the door reached her ears and she swallowed hard.

" _Are you okay sweetheart?"_

She closed her eyes and she tried to focus on something else other than him and the taunting images that formed in her mind.

She bit her lip and Stefan's voice from the past echoed in her mind.

" _When you feel the blood rushing you tell yourself that you're gonna get through it, that you are strong enough…_

… _no matter how good it feels to give yourself over to it you fight it off…_

… _you bury it…_

… _it's the only way you are going to survive this thing…try…try…"_

' _Breathe, breathe, breathe Caroline'_ she thought.

This wasn't her. She had to stay in control. She could stay in control.

She could do this! All she had to do was try!

Damn it she was Caroline Forbes! A control freak on crack! She could do this!

She kept breathing again and again shutting away all sounds and all thoughts until she felt like herself again and then somehow it all went away.

She opened her eyes and forced her vampire features to hide behind her face again.

The world turned into its normal color and she was herself. No pain, no need, no despair. She was okay.

She blinked at that. Her body was restoring itself. It was like everything was returning to normal as abruptly as it had gone to hell moments ago.

She took some more time to steady herself.

She knew that Klaus was waiting outside and before he could come crushing in she decided to go outside and face him and everything else that was happening. She had no other choice.

She could do this.

She had to believe she could because outside that door a new future was awaiting.

_._

_._

_Oh, you're in my veins_   
_And I cannot get you out_   
_Oh, you're all I taste_   
_At night inside of my mouth_

_._

_._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story now belongs to the series "Original Blood"  
> When this story is concluded the second part of the series (as a sequel) called "In Blood and Sin" will follow. Aside from Klaus x Caroline the sequel will also include the Originals in more active roles.  
> Thank you for reading!


	4. Roam with me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added Information I:
> 
> If you are not planning to read the upcoming sequel (it will be a Klaroline fiction that will also focus on the Originals and its whole atmosphere will be completely different than this one and much darker), then consider this chapter the end of the story.
> 
> In the previous chapter and in this one, there have been some clues and hints that will be used in the sequel but nothing that "corrupts" or changes this story for anyone that does not want to continue with the next installment.
> 
> In the next days I will also be posting an epilogue that will serve as the link between "In my Veins" and "In Blood and Sin". It will be a small introduction and a teaser. If you do not want to read further, then just ignore the epilogue and thank you for staying with this story so far!
> 
> .
> 
> .
> 
> Added Information II:
> 
>  
> 
> Chronically we are at the point where Bonnie is dead. Silas is vanished or hiding. Stefan is out of the box but it is still not easy for him to see his brother with Elena. I did not watch the 5th season of TVD or season 1 of The Originals, so these facts are general information for this story. Everything that is strictly canon when it comes to the past of the characters is everything that happened until episode 4x23 of TVD. What happened in New Orleans is something that will be revealed in the sequel of the story. Including what happened with the Originals and Hayley's fate along with Klaus's child (however what will happen in the sequel is completely separate from TO and there are no similarities to be found aside from maybe a few references that will serve some of the continuity but not the plot or the stories here.)
> 
> This also means that for this universe the Klaroline scenes in 5x11 of TVD didn't happen either.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Many thanks to the lovely and brilliant Klovec for helping me edit this chapter and to Anastasia Dreams for all their help with the edits and the story in general.

.

**Part IV | Roam with me**

.

.

.

_Roam with me_  
come down to where all of the others fell  
get lost in the dark to find yourself

_._

_._

_._

Caroline slowly stepped out of the bathroom to find Klaus just a step away from her.

She stood still against him when she realized that he wouldn't budge away.

His neck was healed but still some dry blood lingered at the now unblemished spot. She found herself trembling at the idea of leaning forward and running her tongue over that spot.

She shuddered and licked her bottom lip with the soft edge of her tongue. It wasn't hunger. It was desire. The scent of his blood still lingered and her need was still there. Now it wasn't a matter of survival. It seemed more like a thirst for pleasure; one that could only be attained through his body and maybe not just by his blood.

She closed her eyes and almost moaned. Her whole body seemed to be pulsating but her senses were so alert that she felt as if the whole world could be broken into molecules and combust in light and Technicolor in her hands.

Klaus moved just an inch closer. One breath and their chests would brush against each other. The atmosphere felt more electric than ever.

"How do you feel?" he asked in a husky tone that demanded her attention.

She slowly swallowed and raised her eyes to meet his.

"I feel fine…actually I feel better than fine…like I have never felt before," she admitted and then she narrowed her eyes in confusion.

She did feel better than ever before. She certainly didn't feel as she had before Klaus came to her. Her sanity was now restored. She felt sane and balanced again. The sounds that kept coming from everywhere in the campus and tormented her–sounds of heartbeats, pulses, breathing and of fresh human blood pumping into veins– had stopped. She has in full and complete control again. She indeed wasn't hearing any human hearts from the other dorms beating and twisting her logic and her control. Her mind was clear. She was as lucid as she had ever been. She could think logically again and the vampire inside her was finally muted after so much time.

Her psychotic break seemed like a haunting memory and nothing else as she was again comfortable in her skin; her body more vibrant than ever before.

She pressed her lips together and looked at him as panic started settling in. This time the fear stemmed from admission. This was truly happening.

_His blood._

It was his blood she needed. Now she felt truly strong. Strong? More like indestructible. It was as if she was high on his blood. Caroline was ready to take on the whole world and bend it to her will. What was rooted inside her now was endless and unstoppable and…liberating. She felt hyper aware actually. All this energy coursing in her veins was the most incredible thing she had ever felt.

She took a sharp intake of breath and then a step back. She saw Klaus closing his eyes in defeat at her admission.

This was actually happening. They were blood bound.

"A witch will confirm this but I am afraid that my assumption was correct Caroline, you are-"

"No! No! No way! This isn't happening…this is a nightmare! No…this is a trick! You did something to me!" she screamed interrupting him and then she had the sudden urge to attack him. Not only attack him but to also destroy.

This scared her because she never felt like that before but now she was experiencing a mania like never before. She wanted to scream and smash; vent some of her rage to the world.

She wanted blood and she wanted… _him_.

"Love, don't be ridiculous…do you think I wanted any of this?" Klaus objected as he tried to make her see reason.

Caroline gave him an incredulous look.

"Haven't you? When you were in Mystic Falls you messed with my head for months! Trying to seduce me and make me fall for you! And now I am blood bonded to you? That is quite the coincidence, don't you think?" she accused him. She was frustrated and unable to control herself.

She almost backed down at the obvious twinge of hurt that passed through his eyes, but she didn't. She didn't want to feel sorry for him. She didn't want to empathize with him. She didn't want to be grateful to him for being there trying to help her. Everything was happening because of him. And she didn't want to feel anything for him. At all. Ever again.

"Yes sweetheart because in all the possible ways we could end up together, being a snack for you was the first thing in my list!" he growled at her.

Caroline moved past him and started pacing all around the small room.

A thousand thoughts attacked her mind all at once. She ran her hands over her tangled hair and she could feel Klaus's gaze following her every move and that made her feel even angrier.

She whirled around pointing a finger at him. She saw his gaze getting darker but she didn't care.

"This wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for you in the first place! I only got to drink your blood because you put me in those life and death situations! Ordering Tyler to bit me and then doing it yourself! UGH! You are such a jerk!" she yelled at him.

He pressed his lips together and he took a menacing step forward. No matter how much this baby vampire messed with his emotions, he had his limitations. He was there for her! Ready to move heaven and hell and help her and that ungrateful brat, who had no knowledge or idea of what the world really was, had the nerve not only to not show him any gratitude, but to oppose him!

Him! An Original! A little blond cheerleader that should mean absolutely nothing.

But as always there was something in Caroline that made him pause. Something that he would only deem a weakness; he realized all the hurt and the panic hiding under her sudden rage were mostly caused by the intense feelings his blood was creating in her.

He stopped and didn't lash out as he should. His anger evaporated. He just wanted to make her see that he was there for her. As all of his instincts, lethal and untamed were screaming for him to retaliate, but the one little sliver of emotion that Caroline had brought to life inside him prevailed yet again.

"I know I have hurt you Caroline but it was never my intention," he honestly told her.

"Yeah right!" she dismissed him with so much irony that he flashed in front of her and his hands gripped her shoulders with so much force that she winced and whimpered.

He dug his fingers inside the soft skin of her arms leaving his mark on it. He knew that bruises were forming as he also knew that they would heal once he let her go but those marks would linger under her skin. He would make sure that they remained there. Just underneath the surface. Beneath that shiny impenetrable shield of hers. Now he ran in her blood and he would be damned if he would ever let her go.

"I left!" He screamed at her, "I left you behind because this was what you wanted!" he barked with a booming voice finally admitting what he never wanted to admit in the first place.

He didn't only crave the crown and the throne. He didn't only want the heir that would show to the world that maybe even a monster could create something innocent that would never leave him. He also wanted to stop hurting whenever Caroline played and manipulated him. Whenever she mocked him with how happy she was with her incompetent friends and her worthless lover. How her loyalty and her devotion would never belong to him. He wanted to stop being unable to move past her. Mostly, he wanted to stop hurting and reacting like a human idiot whenever she was around.

He wanted to give her what she wanted and then to relegate her to a memory and finally to nothingness; to feel that she just as insignificant as she obviously believed he was.

He didn't only want the crown of New Orleans and everything he could gain from that city and its hidden secrets. He wanted to let go of Mystic Falls, the place where his family should have reunited and finally loved him. The place had once again been a curse of him because his family never cared.

Klaus wanted to let go of broken dreams, Caroline included, and start anew. Maybe some decades later or even in some centuries when she was older and more mature and she would not be able to judge him so harshly; after she experienced what it truly meant to be a vampire –just like him. He would approach her again or make sure she found her way to him. Until then he wanted her out of his presence and away from his life. She rendered him weak and he could not afford it, especially when she didn't even want to be anywhere near him.

The atmosphere changed between them. It tensed and he got so lost in his thoughts that Caroline took advantage of it. Before he knew it she had placed her delicate palms over his chest and pushed with so much force. It took him by surprise and sent him flying some steps back. Some steps were more than no steps and only Caroline seemed to have that power over him.

"How was that what I wanted?" She cried out at him, practically accusing him for leaving and then she stopped talking in terror as she realized what she had just said.

She brought her hand over her mouth to still it but, it was too late.

Klaus looked at her speechless for a moment. He took in the shame and the undiluted terror that was colored in her eyes and her words finally settled in him.

He smirked as he realized that those raging emotions that lived in him somehow existed in her too. If not all, then at least some and he could work that. A blood bond wasn't formed only because of the blood after all.

She could try to deny it but there was something there. And it ran deep.

"Was it not, love?" he whispered as he sauntered close to her, "you wanted me to stay?" he asked with a low voice and noticed the shivers that run through her.

"No…leaving was the best think you could have done," she responded quickly, too quickly, and looked away.

A bright almost boyish smile formed on his lips.

"Lying doesn't look good on you, Caroline," he observed and he enjoyed how her eyes shined with anger at his mockery.

"I am not lying!" she stubbornly and almost childishly yelled at him and crossed her hands in front of her chest.

Klaus raised an eyebrow and moved closer to her. She stood her ground and defiantly looked at him but he just shook his head and bent towards her so that his mouth would be against her ear.

He enjoyed her scent and how she shuddered whenever he was near her.

"Yes, you are and mostly to yourself. You need me sweetheart," he purred and didn't move an inch when she turned her head and towards him and her lips seemed to be tantalizingly close to his.

"What I need is obviously your blood. Nothing else," she adamantly declared and tried to step away but his hand wrapped around her upper arm and brought her close to him.

She seemed surprised by his bold move and her breath hitched as her heart rate spiked.

"So you are going to stand there and tell me that you have never felt any kind of attraction for me, that I was never in your mind or heart, or that you've never even pondered the possibility of what it could be like if you and I ended up together?" he asked her with a dangerously low tone.

Desire flared in both of their eyes. Intense and brutal. Sensual and slow. Rapid and torrential. Something they both craved as they both looked at each other's lips and felt completely synchronized with the same longing that was robbing both of them of their ability to speak.

"This is crazy," she muttered and subconsciously leaned closer to him.

He held her close to him savoring the moment wanting nothing more than to claim her lips and to get lost inside that fire that has been driving him insane for so long.

But he didn't want their first kiss to be like this.

"This is happening Caroline, and it was happening long before you formed any kind of addiction for my blood," he said and it was those words that finally broke the spell between them.

He felt the change in her before he could see it in her eyes. She moved back and wrenched her arm away from his.

"No," she refused with conviction but he was having none of that.

"Yes," he pressed with a solemn look that turned feral at the way she grimaced with what seemed to be revulsion.

He finally understood that what he and Caroline shared was complex. It was not a simple infatuation as he had originally assessed. It was a fundamental contradiction. It was a constant clash of wills and opposite psychological traits and elements. She would pull and he would push. She would be light and he would be dark. He was so full of death that he desperately latched on to the side of hers that was so full of life. She would walk in color and he would exist in shades of grey. Where he would fight, she would quit and where she would insist he would give up.

It was explosive because they were both fighting at the same moment towards and against each other. And yet it was so gravitational and magnetic that it led them back to square one; the place where they could not resist each other but could not give in to each other either. She was the weakness he could not allow himself to have and he was the sin and the betrayal she would never succumb to. Yet, the coin could never simply balance on just the one side and would always keep turning and shifting reminding them that they were the same; just the two not always so different sides of the same medal, irrevocably connected, especially now more than ever.

But that had to come to an end. Caroline didn't have the luxury of rejecting him any longer and he had to stop pushing her away. They could not keep going like this anymore. Not when she was bound to him.

"No…I don't want this…I don't want any of this!" she said appalled and in his mind only one thing translated.

She was saying that she didn't want _him._

"You might think you don't want this but none the less you need… _this"_ he mocked her with a fake smile and he saw her cringing.

"I just need your blood… _not you."_ She spat at him.

"I am afraid it is a package deal love. You can't have the one without the other," he coldly told her.

"Are your threatening me?" and for a moment he cherished the look on her face. The sheer disbelief he saw there made him hold back a smile. She seemed to be extremely surprised at the idea that he would do such thing to her. At least she didn't think so low of him. Not that he wouldn't resort to such means if necessary. He had come to terms by now with the fact that he would do anything to keep her safe even if it was against her own wishes and even if it would reaffirm in her eyes how much of a monster he could be. Because in all honesty, he was, all of them were and the sooner she would come to terms with it the better.

"No not at all," he said in his most manipulative tone, "I am just telling you how this works. I wouldn't allow to anyone else access to my blood sweetheart. Definitely not for an infinite amount of time. But you are special and I cannot watch you or allow you to wither away," he firmly told her making sure that she realized that he wasn't kidding with this.

"Then help me in another way," she pressed as she kept fighting him on this, even now. Probably because she hadn't realized what "this" actually was.

She belonged to him and she had no way out of it.

"What way would that be Caroline?" he asked with a skeptical look.

Caroline stared at him with an unwavering gaze one that made him lick his lips and imagine would it would be like to turn it into one of blazing passion and to melt her resistance away. It was really frustrating at moments like this the fact that he wanted the real Caroline. He didn't want a blackmailed or a forced version of hers. He didn't want to seduce her against her will or to compel her and take her spirit away. He wanted the real thing and he was ready to wait for it even for centuries.

Obviously some things in his time schedule had to be rearranged now.

"If this is true and I do need your blood then have it sent to me. I don't have to be close to you for this to work. All I need is some pints of your blood," she indignantly said and then shrugged as she tried to make everything appear simple and not as severe as they were.

He laughed at that. It was so dark and cold that Caroline narrowed her eyes at him.

He had once used the doppelganger as his blood bag and now he was rapidly turning into one for Caroline. The irony didn't evade him though he didn't mind it when it came to her. What he did mind was her audacity; and as charming as such a trait of hers was in general, right now it was unacceptable. He wasn't one to succumb to her demands like this. He wasn't going to allow her to treat him like her source of blood and nothing more.

"I am sorry love but that isn't happening," he announced with an unwavering tone.

"Why not?" she huffed and Klaus's hands turned into fists as he literally seethed.

"Because even my leniency to you has its limits. I am an Original sweetheart, show some respect," he warned her.

She scoffed at that and looked at him with her most dismissive gaze.

"The same respect you showed to Elena when you were using her for her blood?" she threw at him.

A slow smirk appeared in Klaus's features.

"The difference here is that even though I needed her blood, my survival was not depending on it. Yours does and that leaves you in a precarious position. One that suggests that you are not in a place of forcing any terms on me," he remarked.

She should be grateful that he even cared. She should be relieved that he wasn't going to leave her to lose her mind and her life and that he didn't do what he would do to any other person in her place. Her heart would still remain in her chest and she would stay at his side.

She looked at him with distain and his jaw tensed. He had enough! She was nothing more than a child and her contempt and constant rejection was starting to challenge his patience. He was not known for his patience towards those that dared to oppose him or those who stood between of him and what he coveted. In this case unfortunately he wanted Caroline and what stood between him and what he wanted were her stubbornness and her rebellious nature. Those things were alluring most of the times, but not now.

"You are coming with me Caroline," he declared. The words were clearly not merely a suggestion, but an order.

"No, I am not," she refused as fire blazed in her eyes.

He gritted his teeth and approached her with a gaze full of menace and fury.

"So you would rather starve and drive yourself into madness?" he sternly asked with a piercing gaze hoping that it would put some sense into her.

But then she looked like she was considering this and he growled.

This was not an option! Not a viable possibility. He would first burn in the nine circles of hell before he would allow her to waste herself away like this.

What was wrong with her? How could she hold her life in such low regard?

Or was the idea of being anywhere near him was so repulsive that she would rather fade away in torment?

He finally snapped and his rage appeared in his eyes in the gold color that he couldn't control.

"It makes no difference! It is not like I am giving you a choice on that!" he snarled and grabbed her hand.

She looked at him with a hint of fear but she didn't turn her gaze away. She tried to push him but he wasn't allowing it.

"What happened to you waiting for me?" she retorted as she tried to twist her hand away from his unrelenting grip but no matter how much she tried he wasn't letting her go and from the way the gold color of his orbs turned brighter she could tell she was provoking the beast but she didn't care, "A day, a month, a century?" she mocked while slowly dread was surrounding her. And yet she refused to give in.

He seemed so determined to keep her close and that made her feel restless and uneasy. She had to get away. She couldn't go with him; spend the rest of her eternity with him? No, this couldn't be happening! She couldn't be fated to spend the rest of her forever with Klaus. Not with him. _Not like this._

She had a future. She had to grow up, to experience the world. She had to live her freedom and not get sucked into his world.

"I still will," he said with a barely audible voice. "I am not going to force you into anything when it comes to your feelings for me. And make no mistake those feelings are there no matter how hard you try to fight them," he pointed out to her and brought her closer which made her fight harder.

"Stop this!" she protested and tried to tug her hand away but he kept it enclosed in his own and brought it over to his chest where his heart was hidden underneath all of the emptiness that he had forced on himself and on others.

She blinked and she opened her palm over the soft material of his Henley. She could feel his heart beating wildly and she breathed in as he looked at her with an intensity that left her hanging between hope and terror. His eyes slowly changed back to their alluring blue color and he stared at her longingly.

They stood there before he let her hand slip away from his. He shook his head for a moment before he turned his gaze back to her.

"Caroline you need my blood and even if I was to send it to you there are going to be times that you will _**need**_ to feed from the vein. And what will happen if you need more than what I send you or if I am unable to contact you for some reason? Are you willing to take the risk and lose control again?" he asked her using a reasoning she could not dispute.

"I will be fine," she insisted but swayed a bit on her spot.

"No you won't. Trust me on this Caroline," he once more tried to convince her and he pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly.

"Trust you?" she laughed with a look full of hurt, "Trust you! You are the reason this whole mess is happening! You know what…no! I don't believe any of this; there has to be a way out! And I won't stop until I find it! I won't be connected to you for the rest of my eternity! I would rather starve and desiccate than have no options than to be with you! I don't belong with you nor am I your puppet!" she screamed at him and then she took a step back as she saw the emptiness in his eyes.

She had pushed him too far. She couldn't see his hurt or his anger anymore. The haze that surrounded her from his blood was slightly dissipating now and she could see clearly. A slight tremor vibrated through her body and she took a step back ready to bolt but before she could even think he had her pinned against the wall behind them with his body for a second time in the same night.

"No, you are not," he told her eerily calm as he placed his hands on the wall next to each side of her head, "what you are is a very headstrong infuriating woman with no self preservation instincts. You are too stubborn for your own good, love," he told her and his voice seemed painted with sinister colors.

He slowly tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear noting how her whole body stiffened and how her heart was beating erratically.

"Let me go," she whispered.

"Never," he vowed and a sense of danger enveloped them both. A feeling so ominous that was swallowing them both so fast and so brutally that the only thing left was their most raw instincts.

His fingers had found their way to her throat and had curled around the soft flesh. If he could only get rid of her. Everything would be so much simpler. But he couldn't. He could not let her go. Not even death was allowed to take her away.

"Klaus… you are hurting me," she whispered and he looked at the flash of fear that appeared in her beautiful eyes. It ran through him and created the most unusual chemical reaction. It felt acidic. Her fear burned more than vervain. He wasn't relishing in it like he had so many times with those he destroyed before.

He let her go instantly, a flash of regret going through his eyes for a moment but then his gaze returning to its former coldness and it was then that Caroline understood the danger she was in.

She saw his disposition changing in an instant. The glint in his eyes scared her for the first time. He looked like he was ready to snatch her away and he really was. She could swear that something snapped inside him in that moment.

He wasn't going to wait. He was to take her choices away and her with them. She pushed him back in fear and tried to run away but he flashed in front of her and as he grabbed her by her hand, she tried to scream for Stefan only to have him push her to the wall again and immobilize her there in a speed not even she could comprehend.

She barely got the chance to see his pained expression as everything happened too fast. In those few seconds she had left she could only call Stefan unsure if he could be there on time or if he could even help her.

Before Stefan could even open the door, Klaus had his hand pressed against a soft spot in the back of her scalp and everything went dark.

* * *

Stefan, Damon and Elena flashed into the room as he was gently placing Caroline on to the bed. He tucked a strand of hair away from her forehead gently as her head rolled to the side. He let his fingers linger on her skin before he removed his hand without taking his eyes from her form. He didn't want to fight with Caroline anymore and she was too stubborn for her own good. Besides if she were to start arguing with him more right now, he was afraid he would lose control, and he didn't want to hurt her.

He was at a point where even she couldn't get through to him.

Not when it came to her safety. She was coming with him and that was that. Even if that meant that he would have to keep her locked and safely stored away from the world. What he wouldn't do was to allow her any say in this. Not this time.

She already had too much power over him. That had to stop. He would give her anything and everything she wanted. No one would be in a higher place than her except for him but her survival would have to come first. Right now he couldn't risk having her opposing him on this. Not when he was already on edge and even though he could never hurt her there was no guarantee that he wouldn't lash out to any of her friends; she would never forgive him if he did such a thing, not if she were to see it with her own eyes. She did need to rest anyway and like that she was not provoking him anymore. And only the Gods knew how that woman could mess with his temper!

He didn't lose control even after what happened in New Orleans and here he was ready to snap! Of course back in NOLA he had decimated the witches and half of the vampire population along with many useless humans and werewolves in fire and in unstoppable rage. According to his dictionary, that wasn't losing control. It was simply leveling the field. Because after what happened he should have burned that damn city to the ground and left behind him only cinders and corpses and yet he didn't. There was no point. Maybe he had evolved as a person or simply maybe he didn't care.

Now the only point he could think of was one. _Caroline._

He was taking her with him today and he would rather have her silent and compliant for that, even if that meant having her unconscious. If anyone tried to intervene he didn't know how he would react and if he were to rip one of her irritating friend's hearts after all then it would be best if she did not witness it.

Caroline belonged to him now. She was connected with him. Where he went she would have to follow. It would be her only chance to survive. He knew that he had enemies and that she would have to learn to survive in a different lifestyle and to stick next to him at all costs. She would learn. She would adapt. She had to.

Even if he had to bring her into a different world. One that even he couldn't avoid. Not anymore.

He looked at her with sympathetic eyes. He didn't want this to happen like that.

She would hate him he thought bitterly. Anyone that was forced to remain by his side either by chance, fate or force in the end hated him. And this was not temporary. She was bound to him. Forever. He didn't need a witch to confirm this. He could tell that she was addicted to his blood. All the signs were there. The way her sanity was restored, the way she savaged his neck and lost herself completely to his blood. Even the increase in her strength was a sign.

He couldn't help but feel his heart swell with a sense of melancholy, worry and even happiness. Caroline was now part him. Always and forever. He recently lost another chance at having someone staying with him unconditionally –and along with that chance he had lost his shot at his latest quest– but maybe this was another opportunity. Maybe this was at once his penance for his former sins and a conduit to a new life again. The only thing he knew for certain was that he needed Caroline to keep him from being the monster he couldn't help but be and she needed him to help her, because without him she would lose herself to a darkness she could not even imagine. Maybe this was his destiny after all. To drive the darkness out of her and into him.

"What have you done to her?" Elena whined and immediately went next to Caroline.

Elena shook Caroline and she tried to wake her friend but it was useless.

"She won't wake up for a few hours, love," he simply stated and earned a glare from Elena.

Damon just raised his eyebrows and Stefan frowned.

Klaus knew this because after Caroline lost consciousness he had pressed her nerve harder, twisting it until it was internally severed. He knew that she couldn't feel it and that was a relief. For now it would take a quite long while before her body healed itself back.

"Leave her be. She needs to rest anyway," he said to the brunette girl that was protectively holding Caroline in her arms now.

Elena sent a murderous look towards his direction.

"I am certain that you lot heard everything that occurred in this room between Caroline and me so you already know what is going on and how this is going to end," he announced with a tone that implied that they should not mess with him right now.

He was right of course. Elena and Stefan would never leave Caroline alone with him and especially not in her current situation.

Outside the room they had remained silent but alert. They all looked at each other with concern. Even Damon. They had heard everything and at first they were stunned that Klaus was the one that had succeeded where they have failed. He was the one that had managed to make Caroline snap out of her crisis. This is why they left them alone. When they heard them fighting and they heard Klaus talking about a blood bond Elena was ready to barge in but Stefan stopped her. And Stefan stopped them from going in the room many times no matter what they kept hearing. Stefan realized that if what Klaus told Caroline about the blood bond was true then Caroline and Klaus needed some time alone to sort things out. He trusted that Caroline could handle Klaus; but once Caroline screamed for him he was the first one rushing at her side. Stefan didn't get there in time since Caroline was already in Klaus' hands unconscious.

And for Klaus to do this…to physically incapacitate Caroline like this, then things were not going to end well. He guessed that they were lucky that Klaus didn't sweep Caroline away before they even entered the dorm again.

If what he was guessing was right, this little stalling was Klaus' good will towards Caroline. It was his way to give them a chance, even if she couldn't feel it in her unconscious state, to say goodbye to her before he took her away.

"You are not taking her away," Elena angrily spat at Klaus.

"I disrespectfully disagree, sweetheart," Klaus said in an ironic voice but everyone in the room tensed. It was as if the air turned into ice.

It was as if the old obsessed Klaus was back. He spoke like he was speaking about the ritual when he first came to Mystic Falls. Only this time his interest was focused solely in Caroline.

"Caroline doesn't want to come with you Klaus. That has to count for something," he tried to intervene and to find a more logical ground with Klaus on this.

"It does, but right now what is important is not what she wants but what she needs," Klaus countered and Stefan sighed. It was obvious that there was no reasoning with the Hybrid anymore.

"And what she needs is you? This is priceless!" Damon laughed.

Klaus's eyes darkened and his muscles tensed. Stefan could tell that Klaus wanted to rip Damon into pieces for some time now and by the way the Original was fisting his hands, he knew it could happen if he did not intervene. Klaus glared at his brother until Damon shrugged and threw his hands in the air in mock surrender.

"Like it or not, yes. I am exactly what she needs right now," Klaus growled.

"Caroline is strong. She can deal with this," Elena whispered but a veil of uncertainty covered her words.

"Her current state suggests otherwise, love," Klaus countered as he started feeling his patience wearing thin.

"We will find a way to break the connection," Elena insisted.

"You won't. This bond is unbreakable sweetheart," came the swift reply.

"If a sire bond can be broken then so can this," Damon said.

Klaus pressed his lips and took a threatening step towards Damon.

"This is not a sire bond _mate_ ," he assured Damon using mockery at the last word of his phrase, "my blood's code is engraved in her own DNA now. The connection cannot be severed. Trust me I know," he muttered.

"How do you know exactly?" Stefan asked.

Klaus sighed and then shrugged but Stefan looked at him intensely and Klaus smirked before he turned serious again.

He crossed his hands behind his back and looked at Caroline. Somehow it wasn't her face that he was seeing this time but the face of his sister.

"Rebekah had one of her lovers blood bonded with her once," he simply said and Stefan narrowed his eyes.

Klaus smiled.

"Call her if you like; she will confirm this to you. Such a tragic boring story," he ironically said as if the story was boring him when in all reality it has been a thorn in his side for centuries.

However Klaus was not one to allow to others to see his true intentions and thoughts.

He went and sat on the bed opposite to the one Caroline was laying.

"Rebekah was very much in love you see…nothing new there," he confessed by ironically rolling his eyes and enjoyed that Stefan seemed to appear uncomfortable at his choice of words, "but that incessant boy was a potential danger. We were hunted by Mikael and we couldn't keep her puppy around. So instead of me killing him which would be the easiest way, Rebekah tried to break the bond. Such a tenacious endeavor and as always my little sister didn't do things half way. She was so…devoted; obsessed someone would say" he mocked with a huff.

Klaus noticed how Stefan's eyes narrowed some more and wondered if Rebekah had confided to him her story with Philip when they were romancing each other in the '1920s.

"In the end it was all for nothing and… _Kol_ got bored of the constant drama and killed him," he unemotionally said.

He looked at Caroline again but this time a shadow passed through his eyes. It seemed that his sins were finally catching up to him.

"Elijah couldn't let it go," he continued this time lost in memory, "not while Rebekah was in pain and wanted answers," he reminisced with a low voice.

"Besides this concerned our family, the Original line. So while I was searching answers for my curse, Elijah was also searching answers for the blood bond."

.

.

_**Cyprus. Year 1448** _

_**Necropolis of Paphos.** _

_He found his way inside the Necropolis as he emerged out of the depths of the underground tombs._

_All around him the burial site extended majestic and reticent. Graves made from stone and dust standing in time. Ageless things seen and unseen to the human eye. He moved passed the old frescoed walls and the ancient columns and climbed the slippery stairs made of solid rock._

_Everyone knew for centuries the existence of these magnificent tombs, the resting place of the Kings, but humans these days seemed to be oblivious at what was happening under their noses. Where the dead rested, the undead always whispered and danced._

_Many witches and druids gathered underground when the moon was full on the sky, in nights were the stars would align. Inside the temples and the graves they hovered and practiced their magic. Their incantations would echo around the city of the dead and the spirits would rise at the midnight hour._

_Elijah put the scroll made from human flesh inside his shirt as his hand slowly healed after the offering he gave. The blood in his palm was already dry. He put out the fire of his torch. Smoke emerged around the firebrand as the flame was extinct and the light perished._

_He climbed the rocks and rearranged the hood of his cloak around his face as he turned and looked around in the darkness. Whispers traveled in the winds and figures that turned even the undead uneasy._

_He kept walking in the dark. The dirt under his feet shifted and the rocks cracked as he elegantly climbed his way through the tombs of the Kings. Behind him, the songs of the witches rose._

_From where he was he could smell the enticing blood the witches were using for their sacrifices from inside the tombs and the salty fragrance of the sea that send its foamy waves to the port, some kilometers away from where he was standing right now._

_There was a slight breeze tonight as the moon casted its eerie beams and when the shadows around him moved, his eyes changed and veins appeared underneath them as his whole body tensed in alarm._

_He abruptly turned around to confront whoever had dared to follow him but just then an amphorae was thrown just in front of his feet shuttering into thousands of pieces as the shadow from the cliff above him laughed._

_A sinister laugh he knew all too well._

_Elijah's face turned to normal as he stared up at his brother's eyes in the dark._

" _It is a sacrilege to destroy such art, Niklaus," he sighed and a gust of wind brought the figure of his brother right in front of him._

_Klaus smirked as his feet landed over the broken pieces of the offering he had just destroyed._

" _However, it does send a message," he mocked as he looked at him and Elijah noticed how the hands of his brother were covered in blood._

_He turned around and started walking towards the exit of the burial site._

" _You need to stop killing every witch that doesn't tell you what you want to hear, Niklaus," he scolded his younger brother and he could swear that sometimes Klaus's impulsiveness could rival Kol's._

_He always kept searching for ways to break his curse. Always questioning about the birth of the doppelganger and he was always consumed with rage when the spirits prevented many witches from giving him the answers he wanted._

" _Where would be the fun in that brother?" Klaus laughed as he followed him but then he grabbed him by the arm and stopped him._

" _Quite the past hour to pay your respect to the dead, Elijah," Klaus's voice full of mistrust resonated in the dark._

_Elijah smiled apprehensively._

" _I concur, brother, it is. Much more for you who has never been known to pay any respect to the dead at all," he said as he removed Klaus's hand from his arm._

_Klaus smiled with something akin to menace and ironically placed a hand above his chest._

" _You wound me, brother," he said as he tried to suppress his laugher, "I pay no respect to the living either," he taunted and leaned over a pillar; his gaze turned serious again._

" _Sleuthing with witches behind my back, Elijah?" he asked with a dangerously low voice._

" _The world doesn't revolve only around your obsessions, Niklaus," Elijah dismissed his brother's suspicion and kept walking in the dark as Klaus reached for him again._

" _I beg to disagree," Klaus countered without amusement this time and Elijah sighed and took the scroll out of his shirt and handed it to Klaus. This concerned them all after all._

_Klaus narrowed his eyes at it but read it none the less and rolled his eyes._

" _Not this nonsense again!" he grunted and was ready to destroy the scroll before Elijah snatched it from his blood tainted hands and placed it under his cloak again._

" _This nonsense is a ghost to our sister's heart, Niklaus and I for once won't stop until I manage to sooth at least some of her suffering," he sternly said and sensed how Klaus's whole body tensed._

" _If only we were all as honorable as you, brother," Klaus spat as he took out a handkerchief and started wiping the dry blood out of his fingers._

" _Just imagine how the world would be a better place!" Klaus ridiculed with a taunting voice._

_Elijah stopped walking and turned and looked at his younger brother with pity. He was always there for him. Always standing by his side and always trying to keep this family united, but Klaus sometimes made it an impossible labor._

" _Pray our sister never learns, Niklaus," he dared to speak of what they never spoke about and didn't back down when Klaus's eyes filled with rage and murder._

_Niklaus approached him and placed his hands at his shoulders. Elijah's gaze travelled to those hands that dirtied his cloak with blood and then raised it to see his brother watching him intensely._

" _The noble brother that… hides the truth. Pray tell Elijah, why would you not share your honesty with our always lovelorn sister?" Klaus queried and as a response Elijah placed his own hands to Klaus's shoulders in return._

" _I do not dare to create another rift in this family Niklaus, this is why I kept yours and Kol's secret as we both know what you did," he replied with a pained expression as Klaus ripped off his hands from his shoulders showing complete and utter dismissal at what he was hearing._

" _I did the best for her!" he yelled enraged._

" _Rebekah will never stop blaming Kol for killing Philip and our brother has turned more impulsive by Rebekah's rejection and your constant refusal to accept him as an equal and not a child," Elijah countered._

" _He is a child! They both are!" Klaus exclaimed unable to understand what Elijah was telling him._

" _None of us are children anymore, brother. Not for centuries now. Rebekah loves you and she trusted you on this but if she ever learns of your betrayal she will never side with you again. Your actions are driving a wedge between our family, Niklaus," Elijah desperately tried to make him understand and Klaus growled but then laughed loudly._

_A lunatic's laughter that wouldn't seize._

" _Right, out saint family bond; one where every each one of you is always ready to break in order to betray me!" he spat and Elijah shook his head but then Klaus grabbed him by his cloak and threw him across the tombs with a force that took him by surprise._

_Elijah landed with a broken spine over a column that shuttered from the impact and Klaus went and stood above his injured body as he grunted and spat blood._

" _Search for your useless answers for the blood bond for as long as you wish brother if it puts your own guilt at ease. You know perfectly well that by omitting the truth from our sister you are siding with me on this. You are not better than me Elijah, you never were. At least I am willing to do whatever it takes to make sure our sister remains safe and away from Mikael's claws," Klaus snarled and threw his bloody handkerchief to him._

" _Mark my words brother," Klaus sneered as he kneeled next to his brother._

" _This story is over and done and as long as I have a say no vampire will ever create a blood bond with anyone of us brother. If this misfortune strikes at our family again_ _ **I**_ _will be the one to tear out that vampire's heart. We will not succumb to such proneness again. Carrying weaklings with us, perpetually bleeding for them when they should be the ones sacrificing their blood to us is a weakness I will never allow!"_

.

.

How the fates mocked him! Klaus thought as he could finally understand the irony of the situation. Now more than ever, he knew how Rebekah felt.

He looked at Caroline's unconscious form and he smiled melancholically.

Now he could understand why Rebekah would do anything to help Philip and how she could not dare hurt him just as he could never hurt Caroline either.

He could now relate to his little sister. His actions reflected hers. He was now willing to dedicate his blood to Caroline for all eternity as once Rebekah was ready to do for Philip.

Unfortunately anything considering the Originals and most of all him always came with a price and for Caroline it was going to be a steep one. She would have to walk beside him now and forever and he would never let her go. This isn't how he had dreamed of this. He didn't want her like this but this is how he would have her. Fate always had a wicked sense of humor when it came to him. Giving him what he wanted and then wrenching it away in the cruelest of ways, giving him a distorted version of what he craved and cursing him to everlasting torment.

"Like it or not we are your creators," he said "you exist only because we exist. We didn't know back then about the bloodlines but as it turns out nature has a weird way of playing tricks doesn't she?" he lamented.

He looked at Caroline as she lay on the bed. The softness in his eyes reserved only for her.

"You see there is no physical, emotional or magical solution that can break the bond. Compulsion can't even do the trick. It is impossible to break a blood bond when it comes to the Originals' blood, for the simple reason that our blood runs in your veins anyway. You descended from us and our blood is part of you. A bond, like the one Caroline and I now share, activates that part of your blood that belongs to us. Blood calling for blood; literally. More so for Caroline since she belongs to _my_ bloodline," he noticed as something akin to pride laced his tone. He couldn't hide it.

It couldn't be any other way he thought. He didn't know if it was fatalism from his side or stoicism but of course Caroline would have to belong to _his_ bloodline.

"Now that she is addicted to my blood, her body reacts to it as it reacts to human blood," he informed them and saw how their faces fell.

"It is literally the base of her vampirism now. The very essence of it. Even if she was to turn her emotions off, the physical need for my blood would still be there. Even stronger than before since vampires with their humanity gone are craving for more blood," he noted.

"This cannot be happening to Caroline," Elena whispered sadly.

"It is. And now she has to come with me," Klaus deadpanned and stood up.

Stefan took a step forward and tried to intervene.

"Klaus-"

"Do you know what will happen to her if she doesn't drink from my blood regularly?" Klaus snarled, "she will lose all of her control. You already saw it happening and I assure you it only gets worse. After some time human blood will do nothing to her if she doesn't get some of my own too. She will lose her mind and eventually she will refuse to even feed. She will shut down completely. If she manages to not kill herself, she will end up into a transient state and ultimately she will slowly desiccate while her whole body will be screaming for my blood for decades," he told them with no emotion. He didn't care how they felt or how they would react to this new reality. This didn't even concern them!

Elena looked at him horrified.

"If she is next to me I will be able to take care of her. Eventually she won't need too much of my blood and she will be able to go without it for weeks and even months at a time," he assured them.

He didn't mention that this could take years or even decades to happen.

"But make no mistake she will always need my blood. You should consider that she is quite lucky actually," he quipped and noticed how Elena almost jumped but Stefan stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Lucky? You call that luck?" she yelled at him as she hugged Caroline closer.

"Yes sweetheart, because if it was any other in her place I wouldn't care or be interested in helping at all," he simply replied while he thought that if there was another in Caroline's place he would have already tore that vampire's heart and he would be done with it. He did notice though how Stefan's gaze was questioning him and indeed wondered again how much Rebekah had revealed to him about Philip.

"Couldn't you just compel her not to need your blood?" Elena insisted.

"I have already told you that compulsion doesn't work in such cases. Tell me Elena, if I were to compel a vampire not to drink blood, or to think he didn't need blood to survive or to even sublimate it with another substance that did nothing for him, what would happen then?" he ironically asked her.

He then rolled his eyes as he saw Elena realizing what he meant. That vampire would starve and would eventually desiccate. And if he was to break the compulsion he would be so hungry that he would either lose his minds or would turn into a ripper.

"My blood for Caroline is necessary as common blood is for you or any other vampire in existence," he stated.

"And we are supposed to let you take vampire Barbie from here because you say so? Without having any proof that what you are saying is real? You have been obsessed with her for months! And now she is conveniently addicted to you? What are the chances of that ever happening?" Damon snorted.

"I am not asking your permission Damon. And as it so happens I have no need of any of you anymore. You can try to stop me from taking Caroline with me but the only thing you will get is your hearts and your heads severed from your bodies," he threatened and took a menacing step towards the black haired Salvatore brother.

"He wouldn't lie when it comes to Caroline, Damon," Stefan sighed and he and Klaus exchanged a look of silent communication and understanding as Klaus stopped and didn't attack Damon.

"So it is settled then," Klaus said with a satisfied smile. The sooner he was done with them, the sooner he could take Caroline and leave.

"Not at all," Stefan objected, "I do not doubt that you want to help Caroline as I do also not doubt that you will try to take advantage of this situation to mess with her head and her heart," he pointed.

Klaus smirked disappointed at that. All was fair in love and war after all but Stefan should have known better.

He wasn't above manipulation and he would use any means necessary to make Caroline see that he could offer her a glorious life and that admitting her feeling for him would only result in her happiness but the bond was not something he would play with.

Not entirely anyway.

He would never take advantage of her addiction but blood sharing was personal and was always created a bond between two vampires. For their kind nothing was more important than blood. Blood meant life and when two vampires fed from each other their life forces intertwined and became linked and in his and Caroline's situation, it could not be severed.

Skin to skin. It was a sin and a blessing. Blood calling blood. When vampires let go and allowed themselves to truly participate, letting their desires free while blood sharing, they could even share emotions and feelings that sprang from their past. They could literally feel each other's memories. A moment of rapture, a blazing inferno of the soul. Something he had never allowed himself to share with another but would gladly do with Caroline. If she ever allowed him to drink from her again that is.

He would run through her veins from now and on and he couldn't help but feel a sort of elation at this. It wasn't his fault this happened –well not intentionally anyway - and he wasn't going to interfere with her mentality and her emotions based on that connection. Maybe it was fate or just a coincidence but now they were connected and even if he wasn't going to take advantage of the bond, it would still be there. He always did the best he could with the cards that were dealt to him. This was who he was. He couldn't shed his skin and he couldn't change his darkness. Not even for her.

Besides, she would also be near him from now and on. She would have no chance of avoiding him even if she would wish it and she wouldn't be able to run away. If she would ever be so stupid as to try to escape him and endanger herself like that, he would probably lock her in a room with him, throw away the key and keep her there forever if he had to.

He would like to think though that when Caroline came to think of it clearly, she would come to terms with her new found condition and her survival instincts and her logic would prevail. She would see for herself that this was for the best. From now and on Caroline would have to spend time with. She would have to see him every day, talk to him, and let him be close to her. He already saw that she did miss him, even if she refused to admit it, not even to herself. Even if she was stubborn enough to continue to deny their attraction, he would still get to be near her and see her every day.

Her presence would illuminate his world. It was at that moment he realized that he didn't care for anything else. As long as she would stay with him –even like this- he didn't want nor need anything else.

They would leave New Orleans since he already got what he wanted from that place. Once he was done with his quest he would take her anywhere she desired. That was an incentive for him to try harder because he wanted to give to Caroline anything she craved for. All she had to do was ask and he would take her all around the world. If that would make her happy, then that was what he would offer to her eventually. Anything she wanted he would give to her, even if he had to lay the whole world at her feet. He only hoped that this wouldn't end up as a disaster for both of them. He didn't want to live in a forever where Caroline would feel only resentment for him. Then having her next to him wouldn't only be a blessing, but also a curse. Maybe the worst one he would have to endure yet.

"Would I ever do that?" he faked innocence to Stefan.

Damon rolled his eyes at that.

Klaus looked at him with a deadly expression but then smirked and looked back at Stefan.

"I am not like your brother Stefan. I don't need to sway a woman's emotions in my favor by using a mystical bond," he said and he meant it. He would never play any games with Caroline's addiction and pain. He wasn't a saint. Of course he would take advantage of her presence. He would try to seduce and charm her in every chance he got and he would tempt her into giving him a chance. But he would never use their bond to cloud her judgement. Not ever. He knew that the bond would work in his favor at many times but he intended to be honest with her. Not one lie or omission of truth. At least when it came to their connection. No games or forced emotional traps. Not to Caroline. Besides it would be too risky and dangerous to play with their bond and the consequences could be too unpredictable.

Damon and Elena tensed at that but Stefan didn't take the bite.

"In any case there has to be a solution for this and I won't stop searching for it," Stefan told him.

"Good for you mate," he shrugged knowing that it was a fruitless endeavor.

"I don't think you understand Klaus. Caroline is my only friend and I am not going to stand here and leave her in your hands," Stefan insisted.

"And how are you going to prevent this?" he pondered out loud with lethal intent.

"I am not going to stop you from taking her with you. She obviously does need your blood and being around humans is not the best for her right now. I also know that I could try but you are already set on this and no one wants any bloodshed today. Not me and especially not Caroline," Stefan told him and he gritted his teeth as the ripper was already exploring his weakness. Caroline was his weakness.

"But I am coming with you," Stefan informed him and everyone else in the room.

Klaus raised his eyebrows at that.

"What? Stefan no!" Elena

"What are you talking about brother…haven't you learned your lesson from the last time you followed the Hybrid jerk?" Damon snapped this time looking actually concerned.

"I am not going with Klaus I am going with Caroline. She has always been there for me; she needs me right now so I am not letting her go," Stefan said in a final tone that none of them could dispute.

"Fantastic!" Klaus exclaimed excited and went next to Caroline. He admired her beauty for a moment. Even unconscious she was still the most beautiful woman he ever saw.

Elena held Caroline's hand as if she wasn't going to let her go. He challenged Elena with his eyes until the doppelganger let go of Caroline and went next to Damon.

Klaus put his arms under Caroline's knees and her back and he gently picked her up; her head rested on his shoulder and he couldn't stop himself from inhaling the sweet scent of her hair. He looked at Elena, Damon and Stefan silent challenging them to stop him. He wasn't kidding when he said that he was going to tear out their hearts if they tried to stop him. This was not only what he wanted but also what Caroline needed and he was not going to allow any harm to come to her and certainly not because of her friends' stupidity.

But Stefan nodded and he passed through them with Caroline on his hands.

Considering their predicament this was actually turning out better than he could hope for. Caroline would be safe and that was all that mattered mostly. In the end not only he would have Caroline by his side but Stefan would tag along for the ride and maybe they could even rekindle their long lost friendship. Even if they couldn't do that, Caroline would still have a friend and a protector with her and she would eventually trust him more easily knowing that with Stefan there she wouldn't be alone. She would see he wasn't trying to separate or alienate her from her old life. More so he knew that Stefan would be proclaiming himself as Caroline's protector, and even though that irritated him to some levels, he could use it to his own advantage. Stefan could turn out useful at keeping Caroline safe even by putting his life in the line for her and there was a chance that it could even come down to that . It would serve him right. Stefan, along with the rest of them, endangered Caroline's life more than once before but that was going to stop. Stefan would be there to help and protect Caroline and at least with that, Klaus could wholeheartedly trust him.

A part of him resented Stefan for his relationship with Caroline. A part of him even felt threatened and considered him an obstacle.

But his reason prevailed. Especially with everything that was happening and was about to happen.

He noticed that Stefan stayed back at the dorm to gather Caroline's stuff; he heard him talking to Elena and Damon and refused to listen to them as they tried, without success, to convince him to not follow them. He heard him saying his goodbyes and instructing his brother to compel anyone that needed to be compelled in the campus about Caroline's absence and her current situation. He asked them to call the sheriff so they could inform her daughter's current situation while Klaus carried Caroline to his car and out of Virginia.

He, himself, compelled anyone that approached them concerned for the unconscious girl in his arms and kept walking away. At that moment there was nothing in this world that could take Caroline out of his arms.

She would definitely be mad at him when she woke up but he wouldn't have it any other way. As long as she was with him, safe and sound, he wouldn't mind anything she would do or say to him. A privilege that was only hers.

The situation was not ideal and deep down he didn't want Caroline to be forced to stay by his side, but he was never one to complain when opportunity presented itself to him.

After all, now he had his Queen and he was taking her home. And her home was where he was. Even if that meant the whole world. This time it was meant to last. _Forever._

_._

_._

_._

_Just close your eyes and let me lead_  
follow me home  
to where the lonely ones roam

_._

_._

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song lyrics : Where the lonely ones roam by Digital Daggers


	5. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chronically we are at the point where Bonnie is dead. Silas is vanished or hiding. Stefan is out of the box but it is still not easy for him to see his brother with Elena. I did not watch the 5th season of TVD or season 1 of The Originals, so these facts are general information for this story. Everything that is strictly canon when it comes to the past of the characters is everything that happened until episode 4x23 of TVD. What happened in New Orleans is something that will be revealed in the sequel of the story. Including what happened with the Originals and Hayley's fate along with Klaus's child (however what will happen in the sequel is completely separate from TO and there are no similarities to be found aside from maybe a few references that will serve some of the continuity but not the plot or the stories here.)
> 
> This also means that for this universe the Klaroline scenes in 5x11 of TVD didn't happen either.
> 
> This epilogue is a teaser for the sequel. If you do not plan to read the new story then please consider the previous chapter as the permanent ending and thank you for reading the story so far ;)

**In my Veins: Epilogue**

(` _In Blood and Sin_ ` Teaser)

.

.

.

_Vampires, werewolves, demons, warlocks and witches; humans, ghosts, travelers, oracles and druids. The lust for blood and the power of the elements of the earth, the sun and the moon._

_It was in the shadows' mists all the supernatural elements rose and danced, blazed and thrummed. Everything came from somewhere. From a place unknown where not even those who are holding the power in their hands dare enter nor disturb._

_It was written in the pages of the book of the living and in the pages of the book of the dead that at first there was nothing; then there was chaos. Before time even began there was no light or darkness. Only the emptiness existed. The endless void._

_All it took was a spark of creation and from its depths a greater chaos erupted and was brought forth. Some called it God. Some called it light. Some called it life._

_And some called it...magic._

_And it was in the sorcery's secrets where power lied; where shadows dueled, the endless cycle started spinning. Everything that later took the forms of demons and were called the devils. It was the anger and it was the dark. It brought the fear and the birth. It sprang death and rebirth. It carried doubt and anarchy. It could not be stopped. It multiplied. It stretched through the known and unknown stars and brought all that cannot be killed, all that will be eternal. It transcended time, earthly and Godly rules._

_And it was foretold that every thousand years the same creation forged in the womb of the unknown darkness comes back to life and shows its claws again from the pits of the same hell that… raises the demons from their resting place._

* * *

_._

_._

_**1000 years ago.** _

_**Mystic Falls, Virginia** _

_All the candles burned their flames inside the cold hut. It was still winter and the cold rose after nightfall._

_Their children slept in their beds but not all of them. One of them was buried underneath the soil. Not yet of age and their son's life ended. Esther could not bear the thought of burning Henrik's body in a funeral pyre as she did with her firstborn so many years ago. So she had her boy buried him under the earth that nurtured her powers._

_She heard her husband begging Ayanna and she closed her eyes. Mikael never begged. He only kneeled upon the shade of Odin and only in private._

_Now he was beseeching for help._

_They had already lost another son. They would not run away as they did in the past, for this sickness was not one that attacked the blood. It was a plague of a different kind. It was a curse that turned men into beasts. It was not the pestilence that took her son this time as it had another many years ago. This time it was the doing of the wolves and they would not run. She would not allow it. Even if she had to bring hell upon the earth; they would not run._

_She would not lose another child. Never again._

" _Please Ayanna I implore you! You must call upon the spirits before the next full moon," Mikael pled with Ayanna. An urgency in his voice that Esther never heard before._

_It was not grief. It was despair. The new full moon was coming. The wolves would hunt again; if they were not ready not only would they be weak, but their son's death would not be avenged. It would all have been for nothing; her children would still be in mortal danger._

" _I will not. It is a crime against nature," Ayanna protested as the shadows from the candles danced around her._

_Esther turned to her friend. She had to understand._

" _Ayanna, we have already lost too much. We cannot lose anymore. The spirits can help us find a way to protect our children," she begged._

_Mikael approached Ayanna and tried to make her see reason._

" _Everything could be heightened. Our family could live forever!" he told her._

" _At what cost? This magic you speak of breeds consequences. This has the makings of the plague, Esther. The spirits will turn on you," Ayanna warned her._

" _Please Ayanna!" she once again pleaded, but it was in vain._

" _I will have no part in it," the witch ended their conversation by refusing to help them._

_As she left them alone, Mikael came closer and held her by her arms._

" _If she will not protect our family, then it is in your hands alone my love," he encouraged her; and he was right._

_They could not run anymore. They could not lose more. Esther would not see another child of hers dead. The pain was too much for her to bear._

_She went towards the window and looked upon the moon._

_The stars were aligning._

_The new cycle was approaching. If the spirits would not help her then she would have to turn to her old ways. The old Gods would cast their favor upon them as the time was imminent. If she could not protect her children with the spirits' grace, she would protect them by siding with the curse of the Gods._

* * *

_._

_._

_**1 year ago. January.** _

_**Cemetery of Mystic Falls. At Esther's place of death.** _

Inside the mausoleum, marked by the Original witch's powers, only flickers of light from the candle's flame broke the darkness. The high priestess chanted in whispers that echoed around the stones. She worked as shadows surrounded her. From her hands magic sprouted. Untamed, strong, undiluted. Powerful enough to rage, to burn _… to bind_.

_Copula._

Five elements.

Earth, metal, wood, fire, water.

All placed over the table where her ancestor created the indestructible white oak stake. The residues of magic that lingered in this place were overwhelming.

_Cognatio._

A rose, the symbol of timelessness, balance and immortal emotion, was set in the middle of the pentagram. The elements around the carrier of secrets connected with sulfur and salt.

Dirt from a fresh grave, a lapis lazuli stone blended in old gold, splinters from a wooden stake, a carved black candle with a flame that burnt strong and a bowl filled with holy water. All elements intertwined in magic.

_Coagmentatio._

The hands of the woman with ivory skin hovered above the elements as Latin words escaped her mouth in hushed whispers. Her body moved as if she was in a trance.

_Copula, cognatio, coagmentatio…Infragilis._

The priestess was concentrating on her task leaving the rest of the world behind her. The spirits were not at her side but she never allied with them anyway. She was part of the old religion. She worshipped the goddess of nature and mother earth with all of their powers and not phantoms from a side made by mortal hand.

She held her forearm over the star and slit her skin until her blood dropped over the dried rose in the middle of the cycle.

Her voice rose higher, demanding and unyielding as she evoked the old Gods and the new. She delved into the pits of the darkest of magic. Her fingers reverently touched each one of the elements at the points of the pentagram.

_Aeternum._

The woman continued her chants as she took the lapis lazuli ring in her hand and brought it to her lips. Her voice circled the metal and then she dropped it inside the holy water that suddenly started to boil. The table shook and along with it everything on it, but the priestess kept mumbling her incantations. She took the ring and placed it above the flame that grew stronger. Her fingers didn't feel the heat as the metal glowed and drops of gold ran over her skin. She placed it over the dirt and threw over it some of the wooden splinters. The wood and the dirt united with the melted gold that now as it cooled of it welcomed them inside its surface.

_Infragilis._

Pure magic delivered the elements to one body as the witch took the rose and the ring in her hands. She chanted as she pushed the stem of the rose that was tainted with her blood inside the ring.

She took the two vials of immortal blood she had placed in front of her and allowed their content to flow over the petals of the dry rose. At first the drops of the blood repelled each other, but it was her spilled blood in the rose that connected and bound them into one essence. She could feel the link being forged in unbreakable binds.

Her whispers became a song and the connection of the elements delivered the creation she prayed upon. Smoke rose from the salt and sparks of electricity ran through the sulfur.

The rose in her hands regenerated and bloomed again as the sanguine blood was absorbed by its petals which slowly opened. A connection made in death and rebirth. A linkage made in blood and smoke. The thorns of the rose grew and wrapped around the golden ring making it part of the stem forever.

_Aeterno infragilis_

The flame from the candle slowly faded and the mausoleum once again surrendered in absolute unforgiving darkness. The smoke rose in the air and then all that was left was a rose in full bloom, reborn in the bloodiest crimson color; irrevocably connected with the golden ring that shimmered bright in the darkness.

The priestess turned around and looked at the figure that patiently waited in the shadows as she spoke.

" _It is done._ "

* * *

**Present day**

Klaus still could not believe it as he found himself behind the wheel driving towards New Orleans with an unconscious Caroline laying in the leather backseat of his car.

His hand wrapped tightly around the steering wheel as he stepped on the gas. He looked at her unconscious form over the rear mirror and he pressed his lips. She would be furious when she woke up and rightly so, but he had no other options left.

He had to find a witch immediately and from what he learned from the people he had left back in Mystic Falls, the Bennett witch was nowhere to be found.

He needed answers about the blood bond. He knew it could not be severed but he had to learn more. Maybe some of Elijah's old search could actually turn out to be helpful.

If he was not mistaken, his brother had left some of his old diaries in the compound in New Orleans. He would have to search for anything useful.

He sighed and gripped the wheel harder. He could not leave Caroline behind and he could not simply send her his blood. He had enemies all over the world. If anyone ever knew about his attachment to this girl, their bond and his need to keep her safe, she would be in grave danger and he could not allow that to happen.

No one could know about his bond with Caroline. She had to be kept protected and out of danger. He had plans for her that didn't translate to her being in constant peril. He wanted her by his side, but safe and unharmed. He could not understand his need for the girl but it was there, nonetheless. Maybe now with Mikael gone, he could have a chance to live a relative free existence with Caroline by his side.

He took his phone out of his jacket and sent a message to one of his witches in Europe. He had played solo for some time now but it was time to regroup. He knew that Stefan would tag along for the ride and that he would eventually follow him and Caroline in New Orleans, but he could not have him interfering with his plans. Besides, they would not stay in Louisiana.

For now what he needed from New Orleans were some specific things and then he, Caroline and her white knight in shining armor could leave that city once and for all. He could not risk Caroline's safety by bringing her to the war zone he had created. A war that had served as a distraction. One that somewhat paid off. Not all of his plans turned unfruitful there. He obtained useful information that only the witches of New Orleans could provide. Now his baggage carried one more coffin and one more clue to solve a centuries old enigma that could give him what he wanted and maybe even more.

Once again he would have to do this alone.

Rebekah ran away and Elijah was somewhere around the globe pitifully mourning. This was the opportune moment. New Orleans held power but the real power still awaited him across the oceans, back where his legacy truly lay.

He also knew that Caroline's presence might complicate things but he would have to risk it. Time was running out.

_._

_._

_**New Orleans. Three months earlier.** _

_Klaus entered the room where he kept the coffins that shouldn't even exist anymore. In the far end of the room sage burned on the table where his mother's grimoire was safely kept inside a circle of protection spells; the scent from the sage covered the stench of death that still lingered in the air. All sounds were blocked and the amulets that hung from the ceiling prevented the presence of those not allowed in that room._

_Not even Elijah and Rebekah knew the existence of this place. He had it built centuries ago. A refuge just underneath the compound. The perfect place to hide something was always in plain sight, after all._

_The room was protected by magic and sealed from all eyes; it was in here that once again he hid his secrets._

_Rebekah had fled and Marcel was nowhere to be found. Some floors above in a bed covered with blood, Elijah was mourning over a torn corpse. Klaus couldn't care less. That body was just a means to an end._

_An end that he still craved and he would gain. Unattainable was the word his most trusted witches had used, but nothing was really impossible. Not when magic was involved._

_Logically Elijah would want to bury the girl with the honors that belonged to the Original family._

_His lips twisted in mockery. As if their family ever knew anything about honor._

_Too bad sense of honor prevented Elijah from seeing the bigger picture. That rotten flesh that carried the seed of magic could still be useful to him. To them. To their true family._

_He took some steps towards the black coffin and placed his hand over the black wooden surface._

_The witch that followed looked at him apathetically._

" _It was all for nothing," she said._

_He closed his eyes and took a deep breath._

" _Not yet," he promised. He still had time._

.

.

No rest for the wicked he thought as he broke the speed limit. He didn't have much time left, but he hoped that it would be enough. The alignment was not there yet and it was time for him to broaden the scope.

He had promised to show the world to Caroline, after all.

Prague seemed like an excellent place to start.

.

.

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**Coming next:**

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_**~In Blood and Sin~** _

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_With a mystical uprising in the making, the world turned into a supernatural battlefield and the Originals are, once again, gathering in a haunted city ready to embrace haunted souls. Caroline Forbes is now irrevocably connected with the most feared and despised of the Originals and is entering a world she never knew existed. Legends are only written in blood and sin, after all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to the beautiful Klovec for helping me edit this chapter and to the lovely Anastasia Dreams for all her assistance so far; their help with the edits and the story in general had been really helpful and greatly appreciated.


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